The royal Parisian botanical garden, the Jardin du Roi, was a jewel in the crown of the French Old Regime, praised by both rulers and scientific practitioners. Yet unlike many such institutions, the Jardin not only survived the French Revolution but by 1800 had become the world's leading public establishment of natural history: the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. E. C. Spary traces the scientific, administrative, and political strategies that enabled the foundation of the Museum, arguing that agriculture and animal breeding rank alongside classification and collections in explaining why natural history was important for French rulers. But the Museum's success was also a consequence of its employees' Revolutionary rhetoric: by displaying the natural order, they suggested, the institution could assist in fashioning a self-educating, self-policing Republican people. Natural history was presented as an indispensable source of national prosperity and individual virtue. Spary's fascinating account opens a new chapter in the history of France, science, and the Enlightenment.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
ISBN-13
9780226768632
eBay Product ID (ePID)
96717993
Product Key Features
Author
E. C. Spary
Publication Name
Utopia's Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
History
Publication Year
2000
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
304 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
232mm
Item Width
166mm
Item Weight
540g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
E. C. Spary
Topic
Nature
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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