Examines "Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx--heirs of the Enlightenment who embodied its highest ideals about progress--and shows how their thoughts, over time and in the hands of their followers and opponents, transformed the very nature of our beliefs, institutions, economies, and politics"--Amazon.com.

Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Ideas as Historical Forces 1 PART I: INVENTORS OF MODERNITY AND WHAT BECAME OF THEIR IDEAS 17 1 Adam Smith: The Science of Man, Morality, and Money 19 2 Karl Marx: The Tragic Consequences of a Brilliant Theory 81 3 Charles Darwin: Struggle and Selection in the Realm of Ideas 148 4 Making Democracy: The Jefferson-Hamilton Debates 215 PART II: SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS REACTIONS AGAINST ENLIGHTENMENT 279 5 Counter-Enlightenment: From Antimodernism to Fascism 281 6 Christian Fundamentalism: The Politics of God in America 336 7 Purifying Islam: The Muslim Reaction against the Western Enlightenment 379 Conclusion: The Power of Ideas and the Importance of the Humanities 418 Bibliography 439 Index 473

"This is a wonderful book. Montgomery and Chirot combine double-barreled scholarship, lucid prose, and considerable wisdom to offer us a fascinating excursion into the history of ideas. For anyone who wants to understand today's emerging conflicts—and what it will take for Enlightenment liberalism again to prevail—The Shape of the New is essential reading."—Jeffrey Gedmin, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University"The Shape of the New is an ambitious book and a joy to read. The scholarship is brilliant. In contextualizing the great ideas of modern history, Montgomery and Chirot provide a holistic framework with which to understand the processes of social change and ideological conflict."—Paul Froese, coauthor of America's Four Gods: What We Say about God—and What That Says about Us"This fantastic book offers an impressively learned and evenhanded treatment of the Enlightenment's key ideas and the reactions to them over the past two centuries. I guarantee that anyone who reads it will be a lot smarter, more cultured, and a far more intellectually interesting dinner companion."—Zoltan Barany, author of The Soldier and the Changing State: Building Democratic Armies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas"This important book demonstrates the power of Enlightenment ideas, how they have shaped the world we live in, and how they have created systems of both action and reaction through time. It should be widely read by students, educators, and others who think that there is no need to teach classical thinkers or that their era is over."—Karen Barkey, author of Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective