SOURCE: Plumb, J. H. “The Pursuit of Truth.” Spectator, no. 7229 (13 January 1967): 46.

In the following review, Plumb asserts that Gay offers an important new perspective on the Enlightenment in The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, Volume I: The Rise of Modern Paganism.

It is a pity. This book, [The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, Volume I: The Rise of Modern Paganism] so profoundly important, will not be read by LBJ nor McNamara nor Dean Rusk. Not that they will be singular. It will not find its way to de Gaulle's table or Wilson's bedside. It is an even greater pity that Baldwin, and Mailer and Capote will pass it by: too thick, too learned, too remote for them. And yet they need to read it, almost more than anyone, for its critical attitude to thinking in myths. But worst of all, my own colleagues will read it, certainly praise it, but, alas, never...