A collection of essays - including 3 that have never been published before - by one of the leading figures in cultural history. Professor Jordanova examines and reinterprets the writings of eighteenth-century thinkers and, in the process, sheds light on contemporary views on issues such as motherhood, sexuality, the body, art and medicine. The volume includes some of the author's most controversial and pioneering work, all the pieces have been revised in the light of the latest historiography and much of the material is published here for the first time.