Six decades after R. R. Palmer's epic Age of the Democratic Revolution, Jonathan Israel has revived and powerfully extended the argument about the world-shaking reach of the radical ideas of the American Revolution--universal and equal rights, democratic republicanism, secular rather than religious rule, and justice for all. In a shrewd, captivating analysis of the Atlantic-wide contest between the moderate and radical elements of the Enlightenment from the American Revolution to the revolutions of 1848, Israel shows that while the lamp of radical Enlightenment ideas could be deplored, dampened, and suppressed, it was impossible for generations to extinguish what Thomas Paine called 'sparks from the altar of Seventy-six.'--Gary B. Nash, author of The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America

Jonathan Israel reveals an American Revolution radical in its philosophical inspiration, global in its impact, and universal in its conviction that the cause of America is the cause of all humankind. With a sweep that brings black emancipation, the expropriation of native populations, and revolutions on three continents into a worldwide panorama, The Expanding Blaze illuminates a past that we only thought we knew. This is the Revolution as America's founders and their far-flung successors experienced Read More chevron_right

Six decades after R. R. Palmer's epic Age of the Democratic Revolution, Jonathan Israel has revived and powerfully extended the argument about the world-shaking reach of the radical ideas of the American Revolution--universal and equal rights, democratic republicanism, secular rather than religious rule, and justice for all. In a shrewd, captivating analysis of the Atlantic-wide contest between the moderate and radical elements of the Enlightenment from the American Revolution to the revolutions of 1848, Israel shows that while the lamp of radical Enlightenment ideas could be deplored, dampened, and suppressed, it was impossible for generations to extinguish what Thomas Paine called 'sparks from the altar of Seventy-six.'--Gary B. Nash, author of The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America

Jonathan Israel reveals an American Revolution radical in its philosophical inspiration, global in its impact, and universal in its conviction that the cause of America is the cause of all humankind. With a sweep that brings black emancipation, the expropriation of native populations, and revolutions on three continents into a worldwide panorama, The Expanding Blaze illuminates a past that we only thought we knew. This is the Revolution as America's founders and their far-flung successors experienced it.--Matthew Stewart, author of Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic

With The Expanding Blaze, Jonathan Israel more than makes good his claim to be the only real successor to Enlightenment historians Peter Gay and R. R. Palmer. Indeed, Israel surpasses both, by joining their themes and ambitions in a single totalizing vision. His book combines a sweeping interpretation of the Enlightenment and a comprehensive account of the age of democratic revolution.--Johnson Kent Wright, Arizona State University