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Review: Michael C. Carhart, The Science Of Culture In Enlightenment Germany, Andre Wakefield

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

This is a book review of The Science of Culture in Enlightenment Germany, by Michael C. Carhart. It is an entertaining book. Its chapters are organized around a series of vignettes: Carsten Niebuhr on camelback negotiating with his Bedouin guides; feral French children skinning rabbits with their bare hands; English gentlemen in Syrian deserts; Captian Cooks lieutenants carving "steaks" from teh severed heads of war victims. In case you've lost your bearings, let me assure you that The Science of Culture in Enlightenment Germany is indeed about Enlightenment Germany. But as the structure of the chapters suggests, Michael Carhart …