Literature, Religion, and the Evolution of Culture, 1660–1780

"Each chapter is brilliant, informed by Weinbrot's astonishingly wide reading and ability to make the past come alive... As he has done before, Weinbrot makes serious intellectual history fun... Highly recommended."

"Professor Weinbrot ranges wide and delves deep in this study, which could nostalgically be called intellectual history... Moreover, Weinbrot provides accurate and succinct historical summaries along the way."

"Literature, Religion, and the Evolution of Culture is a formidable work of scholarship written by one of the period’s sharpest critics. Its erudition is pronounced, its analysis acute..."

"Weinbrot’s examination of the gradual evolution of English cultural perceptions of religious "others" makes an important contribution to eighteenth-century studies."

"Mr. Weinbrot’s study is an infinitely rewarding sourcebook for important eighteenth-century religious concepts (including passive obedience, the Thirtieth of January Sermon, or Augustinianism) and movements (such as Methodism). Without doubt, he offers a most impressive reconstruc- tion of the raging religious feuds. Moreover, his study of Defoe’s monumental Shortest Way with the Dissenters is as careful as it is penetrating. His book is informed by his keen sense of injustice: its pages are suffused with his indignation about cruelties, such as the ‘‘state terrorism’’..."

"... a watershed moment in our field."

"This is a deeply learned, provocative, readable book that will be an ornament to The Johns Hopkins University Press. It is a commandingly impressive book by one of the principal scholars in an established field."