The heavenly city of the eighteenth century philosophers

[David Payne]

"The heavenly city of the eighteenth century philosophers" by Carl L. Beker

I think I learned of this book from this list-serve? Anyhow, just finished reading it, and I highly recommend it. Certainly plays to many Pynchonian themes (or visa-versa).

Quoted from Amazon:

"Here a distinguished American historian challenges the belief that the eighteenth century was essentially modern in its temper. In crystalline prose Carl Becker demonstrates that the period commonly described as the Age of Reason was, in fact, very far from that; that Voltaire, Hume, Diderot, and Locke were living in a medieval world, and that these philosophers "demolished the Heavenly City of St. Augustine only to rebuild it with more up-to-date materials." In a new foreword, Johnson Kent Wright looks at the book's continuing relevance within the context of current discussion about the Enlightenment."

This quote fails to mention: The Surprise Ending! Seriously....
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