Race, Culture, and Politics in German Historical Thought, 1785–1815

by Golf-French, Morgan

• ISBN13: 9780198989790
• ISBN10: 0198989792
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-04-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
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Summary

In this book, Morgan Golf-French offers a new interpretation of late Enlightenment German historiography in relation to ideas about race, culture, and politics. By paying close attention to the institutions within which these ideas were articulated, Golf-French reveals their complex and idiosyncratic development in the work of the prominent—and controversial—historians August Ludwig Schlözer, Christoph Meiners, Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, and Charles de Villers. As the book shows, these ideas and their authors not only shaped the major controversies of the time, from the rise of abolitionism to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, but produced tropes and arguments of lasting significance in European thought.

The book argues that the ideas about race and culture which emerged in the years preceding the French Revolution were crucial in shaping German responses to the crises years of 1789–1815. Readers will discover both the contemporary significance of these ideas in early modern Germany and important insights into their long-term impact. As the book argues, the Enlightenment should be understood on its own terms, as an important phase in European intellectual history ultimately bound to the world of ancien régime^R Europe.

Author Biography

Morgan Golf-French, Junior Research Fellow, Turin Humanities Programme, Fondazione 1563

Morgan Golf-French completed his PhD at University College London, after which he spent two years as Departmental Lecturer in History at the University of Oxford. He has held research fellowships from the DAAD, the German Historical Institute, London, the Leibniz Institute for European History, and the Herzog August Bibliothek. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Fondazione 1563 in Turin, Italy. His research has appeared in leading scholarly journals such as The Historical Journal, Modern Intellectual History, and History of Universities.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. The History of Humanity and the Politics of Teaching2. Debating Human Difference in German-speaking Europe, c. 1785-17953. The History of Inequality and the German Nobility4. The History of Politics and the Foundations of Society5. The History of Philosophy I: Enlightenment as Empiricism6. The History of Philosophy II: Enlightenment as Rationalism7. Reimagining World History I: Russia and European Civilization8. Reimagining World History II: Enlightenment against Catholicism9. Reimagining World History III: The Prerequisites of ProgressEpilogue: The German Enlightenment in History