"The new Atlantic history has hitherto focused predominantly on the British Atlantic Empire. This volume, by contrast, explores intellectual history and political processes during the final democratic revolutions of the eighteenth century, while questioning the centrality of the area ruled over by Britain and America. It re-examines the role played by continental Europe and the connections between various national cultures. Rethinking the Atlantic World shows how ideas rebounded across the Atlantic, how they were received, and how they combined and gave rise to new ideas and new political action. Consequently, it places the French Revolution firmly at the heart of Atlantic history, but from a perspective which transcends the ideological limits imposed by twentieth-century debate."--BOOK JACKET.