Chris Berry is Professor Emeritus of Political Theory at the University of Glasgow, which he joined from 1970, from the LSE where he completed his doctorate. He is best known for his work on the Scottish Enlightenment and on the ‘Idea of Luxury’ and he has given invited keynote lectures on these themes in China, Japan, Chile, the US and in Europe. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Berry’s Scottish Enlightenment is an integrated affair, and his writing about it mirrors that theme, masterly overlapping interpretations of primary sources with meaningful discussions of much of the most important historiography. [...] The resulting synthesis is both an original and expert contribution to Scottish Enlightenment studies and an accessible introduction to the field that might be read by students at many levels.

• PrefaceScotland, Improvement and EnlightenmentCommerce, Stages and the Natural History of SocietyProsperity and PovertyMarkets, Law and PoliticsLiberty and the Virtues of CommerceThe Dangers of CommerceThe Idea of a Commercial SocietyIndex

Chris Berry is Professor Emeritus of Political Theory at the University of Glasgow, which he joined from 1970, from the LSE where he completed his doctorate. He is best known for his work on the Scottish Enlightenment and on the ‘Idea of Luxury’ and he has given invited keynote lectures on these themes in China, Japan, Chile, the US and in Europe. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Berry’s Scottish Enlightenment is an integrated affair, and his writing about it mirrors that theme, masterly overlapping interpretations of primary sources with meaningful discussions of much of the most important historiography. [...] The resulting synthesis is both an original and expert contribution to Scottish Enlightenment studies and an accessible introduction to the field that might be read by students at many levels.

• PrefaceScotland, Improvement and EnlightenmentCommerce, Stages and the Natural History of SocietyProsperity and PovertyMarkets, Law and PoliticsLiberty and the Virtues of CommerceThe Dangers of CommerceThe Idea of a Commercial SocietyIndex

Chris Berry is Professor Emeritus of Political Theory at the University of Glasgow, which he joined from 1970, from the LSE where he completed his doctorate. He is best known for his work on the Scottish Enlightenment and on the ‘Idea of Luxury’ and he has given invited keynote lectures on these themes in China, Japan, Chile, the US and in Europe. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Berry’s Scottish Enlightenment is an integrated affair, and his writing about it mirrors that theme, masterly overlapping interpretations of primary sources with meaningful discussions of much of the most important historiography. [...] The resulting synthesis is both an original and expert contribution to Scottish Enlightenment studies and an accessible introduction to the field that might be read by students at many levels.

• PrefaceScotland, Improvement and EnlightenmentCommerce, Stages and the Natural History of SocietyProsperity and PovertyMarkets, Law and PoliticsLiberty and the Virtues of CommerceThe Dangers of CommerceThe Idea of a Commercial SocietyIndex