It is above all a grand survey of the Europe of the Enlightenment and the Ancien Regime in the last generation before the Revolution. Catherine of Russia and Maria Theresa, Frederick II and Louis XV, their public professions their real aims, their courts, their ministers, their notions of conduct, are presented with a lucidity, elegance and ruthlessness worthy of their own age.But the book is also much more. Sorel's whole argument is that the Revolution can only be understood, and its subsequent development explained, by the study of causes rooted deep in the past. His naturally analytical, profoundly historical, cast of mind leads him to trace characteristics, to coin epigrams, to strike off generalisations, to reveal insights that illumine the whole course of European history in language both witty and graceful.So many-faceted a work asks much of its translators. In professor Cobban and Mr.Hunt it has found a breadth of erudition and a literary skill equal to all the demands made upon them. They have identified all Sorel's sources and where necessary supplied additional notes.