The Documents of Democracy series provides an in-depth study of four principal documents that underlie the American system of government: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Each title offers a comprehensive treatment of the particular primary source document, including an analysis of the text and its historical context.

Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752

The first major reassessment of the Western Enlightenment for a generation. Continuing the story he began in Radical Enlightenment, Jonathan Israel now focuses on the first half of the eighteenth century. He traces to their roots the core principles of Western modernity: the primacy of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression.