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HomeMapsRussiaInventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment |
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Unique approach, comprehensive and well-researched Dec 16, 2008
This is a book everybody interested in Eastern Europe should read. I pretty much liked the approach of the author and his general idea of revealing the historical sources of information that led to the present image of the Balkans. All the basic patterns, the prejudices, everything that makes you think what you think nowadays about the Balkans, Central Europe and Russia.
It's obvious that Wolff is well travelled and has went through numerous sources. This book's strong side is the unique approach to analyzing texts written by travellers during the Enlightenment and showing their sometimes shockingly naive conclusions. It's not only educational and academic, but also fun to read. Recommended.
23 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Enlightenment on the Enlightenment Jan 08, 2001
All too often people think of the Enlightenment as a group of smart people thinking about why we are so wonderful. The flip side of Enlightenment thinking is that to make Europeans seem so wonderful, the Philosophes described themselves against an Other, who possessed all the undesirable traits not accepted by the "Enlightened" people. Wolff shows how the Philosophes, with limited actual knowledge of Eastern Europe, used the civilizations east of Germany to show the benefits of living in the West. During the Enlightenment the language used to describe Eastern Europe ascribed barbaric qualities to the people and offered little faith that the people could ever "evolve" as Western Europeans had. Wolff uses maps and traveler's accounts to show the influence the philosphes had on perceptions of Eastern Europe. It is rather disconcerting to note that many of these same perceptions persist today.
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