A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment

New York: Basic Books; Perseus, 2010. xx, 361 pages, illustrations, portraits; 25 cm. Tight, clean copy. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. A fine copy of the first printing. "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." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Fathers and sons. City of lights; Journeys; Encyclope die: 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.. 1st. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo. Collectible.