The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World

The Shape of the New traces how four revolutionary Enlightenment ideas—freedom, equality, evolution, and democracy—have influenced modern history and continue to shape the world today. The book examines key figures including Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx, showing how their thoughts transformed beliefs, institutions, economies, and politics through their followers and opponents. Montgomery argues that these ideas contain internal contradictions. While representing progress and humanistic ideals, they have been used to justify slavery and colonialism, appropriated by authoritarian regimes like Stalin's and Hitler's, and provoked reactions from Islamic Salafists and the Christian Religious Right. The book contends that understanding contemporary ideological and political conflicts requires knowledge of these world-changing ideas and their historical tensions. It emphasizes the importance of engaging with the works of these great thinkers to understand the ideas that have shaped modern thought and belief.