Defining the Common Good
Empire, Religion and Philosophy in Eighteenth-Century Britain

"...Miller triumphantly succeeds in a work of sustained sophistication and remarkably wide learning....Miller's is a powerful and original vision which demands attention." Times Literary Supplement

"This is an erudite and attractively expressed study in intellectual history. Part of a prestigious series, it comes with the imprimatur of influential Cambridge scholars who have done much to shape our understanding of how we should approach the political thought of the early-modern period." Albion

"A splendid contribution...Elaborate bibliography." R.H. Thompson, Choice

"Suffice it to say that Defining the Common Good not only introduces the reader to the complexities of eighteenth century British thought, but provides him with a wealth of both primary and secondary bibliographical sources. The book's principal value lies in the synopsis of views entertained by the eighteenth century British intelligensia. The players are numerous, disagreements between major figures abound, but there is an intelligibility to the discourse, provided in part by the common classical education of the participants who not only read the ancients but took each other seriously." Review of Metaphysics

"The essyas are scholarly and will be useful to historians of science as well as those interested in the interface between science and social values." J.C. Kricher, Choice

"Visions of Empire emerged out of a conference celebrating the acquisition of Joseph Bank's florilegium by the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA. The miracle of the publication of botanical illustrtions from the copper plates so carefully and scientifically produced by the consortium around Banks was indeed worth celebrating." Greg Dening, American Anthropologist