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Audiobook edition · 3 h 51 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a Paris salon becomes a meeting place for ideas that challenge religion itself?
In this scholarly study, Max Pearson Cushing follows Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, a German-born thinker who makes Paris his home. An inherited fortune and title give Holbach independence. Around his table gather Denis Diderot, Jean Jacques Rousseau for a time, and visitors from across Europe. His circle brings readers into the world of French radical thought before the Revolution.
Holbach's arguments reach far beyond the salon. He writes and sponsors works against Christianity, publishing abroad under borrowed or invented names because censorship carries real penalties. Cushing examines his life, friendships, and books, including the System of Nature. He traces a materialism that explains thought through natural law and extends into questions of ethics and government.
What you’ll discover
- Independence and dissent See how inherited wealth gives Holbach room to pursue his radical ideas.
- Around the salon table Meet the writers and European visitors who gather at Holbach's Paris home.
- Books under borrowed names Follow arguments against religion into a world of strict censorship and concealed authorship.
- A universe of matter Explore the System of Nature's account of matter, motion, and human thought.
- Ideas beyond religion Consider how Holbach carries materialism into ethics and government, provoking lasting dispute.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love the Enlightenment, the salons of Paris, forbidden books and secret presses, and the roots of modern atheism.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A forgotten atheist comes into view
- Friendship comes before the public arguments
- Science leads him to question authority
- Conversation gives ideas a meeting place
- Generosity puts his beliefs into practice
- Anonymous books carry a dangerous argument
- A forbidden book draws public answers
- Nature becomes the basis of morality
- Ideas spread through relationships and risk
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Baron d'Holbach: A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France
by Max Pearson Cushing · 1914
A rich baron feeds Paris philosophers every Thursday and smuggles out books that Parliament orders burned.
Easy read2–5 hours to read16 languages
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In short
In 1771 Diderot wrote that once people dared to storm the wall of religion, they would soon turn their eyes toward the thrones of the earth. Who stood behind that first assault?
Baron d'Holbach: A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 15 min1 h 45 min fast, 2 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 32,000 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1914by Max Pearson Cushing
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A forgotten man deserves a portrait
Cushing opens with a puzzle. Holbach stated the case against religion more plainly than anyone in his century, yet he has no biographer. Admirers promised lives of him and never finished them. A short English sketch from 1834 was left unfinished when its author died.
The only books with his name in the title are a spiteful piece of fiction by Madame de Genlis and a romance in which he plays a small part. So Cushing rebuilds the man from what survives. Holbach left about fifty publications. Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Grimm and Hume wrote about him in letters and memoirs.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 12 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1914
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 30 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Cushing, Max Pearson. Baron d'Holbach: A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/baron-dholbach-a-study-of-eighteenth-century-radicalism-in-france.
Cushing, M. P. (2026). Baron d'Holbach: A study of eighteenth century radicalism in France. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/baron-dholbach-a-study-of-eighteenth-century-radicalism-in-france (Original work published 1914)
Cushing, Max Pearson. Baron d'Holbach: A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/baron-dholbach-a-study-of-eighteenth-century-radicalism-in-france.
@book{cushing2026baron,
author = {Cushing, Max Pearson},
title = {Baron d'Holbach: A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/baron-dholbach-a-study-of-eighteenth-century-radicalism-in-france},
note = {First published 1914}
}
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Who was Baron d'Holbach?
Holbach was a German-born baron who lived in Paris and hosted the Encyclopedists at weekly dinners. He was a scientist, a translator and the anonymous author of the boldest atheist books of the eighteenth century.
What is the System of Nature about?
It argues that everything is matter in motion, that humans are wholly natural beings, and that belief in gods comes from ignorance of causes. It builds morality and government on self-interest and reason instead of religion.
Why did Holbach publish under other names?
Writing against religion could bring prison or worse, and peddlers of his books were whipped and branded. He used names such as Mirabaud and Boulanger, printed in Amsterdam, so the authorities could not easily trace the author.
The author
Max Pearson Cushing
1886–1951 · American historian
Max Pearson Cushing was born in 1886 and died in 1951. He wrote Baron d’Holbach: A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France. The book was published in New York in 1914. His places of residence are not established by the information available here.
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