This book is a careful and valuable source for historians of science interested in ways in which the Enlightenment affected the practice of science in the more remote lands of the Habsburg empire.
J. L. Heilbron, University of CaliforniaBerkeley. In: Church History, Vol. 89, No. 4 (December 2020), pp. 953955.
Maximilian Hell (172092) and the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe is a valuable contribution that provides an impressive account of the neglected aspects of the East Central European Enlightenment.
Tibor Bodnįr-Kirįly, Eötvös Lorįnd University. In: Austrian History Yearbook, Vol. 52 (2021), pp. 1516.
This monograph is essential for any study of the history of European astronomy and of Jesuit science.
Agustķn Udķas, Universidad Complutense. In: Journal of Jesuit Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1 (December 2020), pp. 111113.
Hells vitriolic responses to public criticism, the familiar stereotype of the dissembling Jesuit, and the implosion and suppression of the Order in 1773 [ ...] undermined his reputation. While not formulated as a rehabilitation, Maximilian Hell (172092) and the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe undoes much of that damage, showing the attractive aspects of this figure as, for instance, his collaboration with the gifted painter Caspar Franz Sambach and the considerable constraints under which Hell worked. Of particular value is the sustained and enlightening comparison of the Jesuits and their curious double, the Freemasons.
Eileen Reeves, Princeton. In: Isis, Vol. 12, No. 3 (September 2021), pp. 607609.
