A Wicked Company : The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment

The flourishing of radical philosophy in Baron Thierry Holbach’s Paris salon from the 1750s to the 1770s stands as a seminal event in Western history. Holbach’s house was an international epicenter of revolutionary ideas and intellectual daring, bringing together such original minds as Denis Diderot, Laurence Sterne, David Hume, Adam Smith, Ferdinando Galiani, Horace Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, Guillaume Raynal, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In A Wicked Company , acclaimed historian Philipp Blom retraces the fortunes of this exceptional group of friends. All brilliant minds, full of wit, courage, and insight, their thinking created a different and radical French Enlightenment based on atheism, passion, reason, and truly humanist thinking. A startlingly relevant work of narrative history, A Wicked Company forces us to confront with new eyes the foundational debates about modern society and its future. The flourishing of radical philosophy in Baron Thierry Holbach’s Paris salon from the 1750s to the 1770s stands as a seminal event in Western history. Holbach’s house was an international epicenter of revolutionary ideas and intellectual daring, bringing together such original minds as Denis Diderot, Laurence Sterne, David Hume, Adam Smith, Ferdinando Galiani, Horace Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, Guillaume Raynal, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.In __A Wicked Company__, acclaimed historian Philipp Blom retraces the fortunes of this exceptional group of friends. All brilliant minds, full of wit, courage, and insight, their thinking created a different and radical French Enlightenment based on atheism, passion, reason, and truly humanist thinking. A startlingly relevant work of narrative history, __A Wicked Company__ forces us to confront with new eyes the foundational debates about modern society and its future. Acclaimed historian, Philipp Blom, retraces the fortunes and characters of the men, that from the 1750s to the 1770s in the Paris salon of Baron Paul Thirty Holback had debated with intellectual daring and produced revolutionary ideas. These brilliant minds full of wit, courage, and humanity in their thinking created a different and radical French Enlightenment based on atheism, passion, empathy, and a compellingly insightful perspective on society.--[Book cover] Fathers and sons. City of lights Journeys Encyclopédie : grand ambitions Chez M. Holbach Audacity Christianity unveiled Only the wicked man lives alone Marvelous machines. Le bon David A natural philosophy Sheikhs of the Rue Royale Grandval The bear The island of love. Crime and punishment The most ungrateful dogg in the world Fame and fate The empress and the Bean King Sex in paradise Fifty hired priests A stolen revolution. "From the 1750s to the 1770s, the Paris salon of Baron Paul Thiry Holbach was an epicenter of debate, intellectual daring, and revolutionary ideas ... Brilliant minds full of wit, courage, and humanity in their thinking created a different and radical French Enlightenment based on atheism, passion, empathy, and a compellingly insightful perspective on society."--[Book jacket] Tells the story of the Parisian salon that hosted the eighteenth century's greatest minds and changed the course of Western philosophy.