Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Advanced
Title details for The Age of Voltaire by Will Durant - Available

The Age of Voltaire

by Will Durant
Ariel Durant
Audiobook
Listen to a sample Listen to a sample

The Age of Voltaire, the ninth volume of The Story of Civilization, is an in-depth examination of France and England in the first half of the eighteenth century. In this masterful work, listeners will encounter

  • the English ideas that inspired the Enlightenment in France—skepticism, scientific experiment, constitutional government, "natural rights," and individual liberty;
  • the salons of Paris, where the wits and thinkers of all Europe gathered to exchange ideas;
  • the philosophes—intellectuals, playwrights, and poets who consulted and consorted with kings and queens;
  • Voltaire himself—the incarnation of the Enlightenment and a devotee of reason who still defended religious faith;
  • Mme. Pompadour, patron of the philosophes, who seduced King Louis XV and through him influenced French policy;
  • the Augustan Age in English literature—Alexander Pope's poetry, Jonathan Swift's satires, and the novels of Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding; and
  • the growing parasitism of the aristocracy and rising power of the commercial class.
    • Expand title description text
    Series: The Story of Civilization Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Edition: Unabridged

    OverDrive Listen audiobook

    • ISBN: 9781504600354
    • File size: 1236279 KB
    • Release date: June 1, 2015
    • Duration: 42:55:34

    MP3 audiobook

    • ISBN: 9781504600354
    • File size: 1236470 KB
    • Release date: June 1, 2015
    • Duration: 42:55:13
    • Number of parts: 45

    Formats

    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    MP3 audiobook

    subjects

    History Nonfiction

    Languages

    English

    The Age of Voltaire, the ninth volume of The Story of Civilization, is an in-depth examination of France and England in the first half of the eighteenth century. In this masterful work, listeners will encounter

  • the English ideas that inspired the Enlightenment in France—skepticism, scientific experiment, constitutional government, "natural rights," and individual liberty;
  • the salons of Paris, where the wits and thinkers of all Europe gathered to exchange ideas;
  • the philosophes—intellectuals, playwrights, and poets who consulted and consorted with kings and queens;
  • Voltaire himself—the incarnation of the Enlightenment and a devotee of reason who still defended religious faith;
  • Mme. Pompadour, patron of the philosophes, who seduced King Louis XV and through him influenced French policy;
  • the Augustan Age in English literature—Alexander Pope's poetry, Jonathan Swift's satires, and the novels of Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding; and
  • the growing parasitism of the aristocracy and rising power of the commercial class.
    • Expand title description text
    History Nonfiction