The Enlightenment

In "The Enlightenment: An Idea and Its History," J. C. D. Clark provides a critical analysis of the Enlightenment as a historiographical concept rather than a cohesive movement. Covering England, Scotland, France, Germany, and the United States from around 1650 to the present, the book argues that the commonalities among these societies have been overstated. Clark contends that the term 'Enlightenment' was not widely recognized until the mid-twentieth century, and that understanding it as merely a concept challenges the idea of a clear transition to modernity.