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Apr. 7th, 2011

I'm going to poke gentle fun at The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots' Invention of the Modern World by Arthur Herman so I feel I should start by saying that I actually think it is an excellent book. Having read a number of history textbooks on the Enlightenment period recently I think I can, hand-on-heart, say that from a layman's point of view this is the most accessible of the books which is attempting to push a distinct thesis, rather than simply providing an entertaining popular history narrative. I suspect, for the professional historian, it probably spends too many words rehashing the basic framework of history for the uninitiated: one wonders, for instance, if a blow-by-blow account of the '45 was really necessary when its aftermath is far more relevant to the argument than the events themselves. As a lay historian, however, I was grateful for its inclusion.

( some mockery ensues )

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