Age of Voltaire (audiobook mp3)

The Age of Voltaire, the ninthvolume of the Story of Civilization, is an in-depth examination of France and England inthe first half of the eighteenth century. In this masterful work, listenerswill encounter the English ideas thatinspired 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 whoconsulted and consorted with kings and queens; Voltaire himself-theincarnation of the Enlightenment and a devotee of reason who still defendedreligious faith; Mme. Pompadour, patronof the philosophes, who seduced King Louis XV and through himinfluenced French policy; the Augustan Age inEnglish literature-Alexander Pope's poetry, Jonathan Swift's satires, and thenovels of Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding; and the growing parasitismof the aristocracy and rising power of the commercial class.