The period 1680-1715 was a great turning point in Western intellectual history. It marked the beginning of the general ferment which caused the overthrow of the classical mind and provided the initial stimulus for the establishment of the romantic enlightenment. With clarity as well as a sharp sense for the evaluation of detail and historical relevance, Paul Hazard delineates this ferment and the process of erosion of respect for tradition, stability, proportion and settled usage which characterized classicism. He shows how a new awareness of the countries beyond European encouraged a new critical evaluation of European institutions and how the growth of modern science and scientific method led to the abandonment of the accepted intellectual order and the eager prosecution of free inquiry.