William Robertson—historian, minister, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh—was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. In this study of his four major histories (on national, European, and global themes), László Kontler explores how their reception in Germany tested the possibilities and the limits of intellectual transfer through translation within the "republic of letters." Employing a comparative approach to reassess Robertson`s status and contribution against a Scottish, German, and European background, the book reinforces and enriches the trend in eighteenth-century studies which emphasizes that besides the approximate unity of questions in the Enlightenment`s intellectual agenda, the answers showed significant diversity and were contingent upon local and individual factors.

Contents:

1. Politics, Literature, and Science: William Robertson and Historical Discourses in Eighteenth-Century Scotland and Germany

2. Time and Progress, Time as Progress: History by Way of Enlightened Preaching

3. A Different View of the Progress of Society in Europe

4. Scottish Histories and German Identities

5. Maps of Mankind: The Savage and the Civilized

Author:
László Kontler is a Professor of History at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. His book A History of Hungary (2002) has been published in six languages.