title: Newton and the Origin of Civilization
author:  Jed Z. Buchwald 
description: "This argument for intellectual unity in Newton's method of working gives <i>Newton and the Origin of Civlization</i> philosophical as well as historical originality and importance . . . represents a climacteric in our understanding of its subject's life and thought."<b>---Scott Mandelbrote, <i>Times Literary Supplement</i></b><br /><br />"After Gibbon, however, Newton's work as a historian fell into a long oblivion, from which Frank Manuel rescued it in the 1960s; but his elegant study, <i>Isaac Newton: Historian</i>, has now been dwarfed by the labours of Buchwald and Feingold."<b>---Jonathan Re, <i>London Review of Books</i></b><br /><br />"[T]he story that Buchwald and Feingold trace is a rich and complicated one. The debates are mathematically technical and require a good understanding of ancient Egyptian and classical mythology and biblical history. It would be advantageous for the reader to be fluent in these matters; however, given the nature of Newton's overall approach, this book would certainly benefit a more general reader, particularly one interested in debates about the reliability of textual accounts. This study also compliments scholarship on early modern studies of the Earth where mineralogists and geologists used the history of ancient civilizations as an analogy for establishing Earth chronology, and it potentially sheds light on the regular use of astronomy as a model for thinking about credible arguments in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century geology. As the first study to seriously engage with Newton as a chronologer since Frank Manuel's Isaac Newton, Historian (1963), Buchwald and Feingold's publication significantly adds to scholarly commentary on Newton."<b>---Allison Ksiazkiewicz, <i>British Journal for the History of Science</i></b><br /><br />"Buchwald and Feingold's publication significantly adds to scholarly commentary on Newton. The authors' detailed examination of the making of history in the early modern world clearly demonstrates Newton's novel approach in Chronology and its lasting influence on subsequent history writers who were governed by connoisseurship and taste rather than mathematical certainty."<b>---Aluson Ksiazklliwicz, <i>BJHS</i></b><br /><br />"Buchwald and Feingold have resuscitated erudite discussions that were dismissed some 300 years ago. As they point out, Newton's own meandering, copious comparisons between obscure minutiae seem designed to deter even the most stalwart of readers, but their own comprehensive account is written in an admirably lucid style. For anyone who shares their fascination with Newton's obsessions, but quails when confronted by his tortuous prose, they have rendered an invaluable service."<b>---Patricia Fara, <i>Metascience</i></b><br /><br />"Buchwald and Feingold's book is full of remarkable details, insights, and incidents. . . . Certainly, the book is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest either in Newton or in the study of ancient history in the 17th and 18th centuries."<b>---Ernest Davis, <i>SIAM News</i></b><br /><br />"Buchwald and Feingold prove to be excellent guides through this material. . . . They provide a detailed and authoritative commentary. . . . [T]he authors have much to say that is new. . . . Newton specialists should certainly read this book for the many insights the authors offer along the way into Newton's ways of thinking."<b>---John Henry, <i>Science &amp; Education</i></b><br /><br />"Fascinating. . . . [<i>Newton and the Origin of Civilization</i>] is . . . the first serious attempt to solve what might be called the 'Newton three-body problem,' a conundrum at the very center of Newton scholarship today. . . . [T]here is no better starting point for thinking about the Christian theology entangled in Newton's natural science than this book. . . . [A] thoughtful, erudite, and insightful study."<b>---J.B. Shank, <i>Physics Today</i></b><br /><br />"Newton specialists should certainly read this book for the many insights the authors offer along the way into Newton's ways of thinking."<b>---John Henry, <i>Science and Education</i></b><br /><br />"<i>Newton and the Origin of Civilization</i> adds considerably to what we know about Newton as a historian and chronologist."<b>---Margaret C. Jacob, <i>Journal of American History</i></b>
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  ![](index-1_1.jpg)
  
  
  Newton
  
  
  _and the_
  
  
  Origin _of_ Civilization
  
  
  
  
  
  Newton
  
  
  _and the_
  
  
  Origin _of_ Civilization
  
  
  Jed Z. Buchwald _& _ Mordechai Feingold
  
  
  **princeton universit y press**
  
  
  **princeton and oxford**
  
  
  Copyright © 2013 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton
  University Press,
  
  
  41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
  
  
  In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock,
  Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
  
  
  press.princeton.edu
  
  
  Jacket art: Gli Astronomi, inv. 269; Niccolò Tornioli.
  
  
  Courtesy of the Galleria Spada, Rome.
  
  
  All Rights Reserved
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  
  Buchwald, Jed Z.
  
  
  Newton and the origin of civilization / Jed Z. Buchwald and Mordechai
  Feingold.
  
  
  p. cm.
  
  
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  
  
  ISBN 978-0-691-15478-7 (hardcover : acid-free paper) 1. Newton, Isaac, Sir,
  1642–1727.
  
  
  2\. Newton, Isaac, Sir, 1642–1727—Philosophy. 3. Newton, Isaac, Sir,
  1642–17