The Dragon and the Star provides a narrative history of the Scientific Revolution which uses the latest scholarship and new insights to discuss how Europeans thought about the natural world changed significantly from 1450 to 1750. It crucially presents an integrated history of knowledge producers – one that includes women, non-European and non-elites – grounding the narrative in stories that demonstrate the diversity of practitioners and spaces of knowledge creation in the early modern period.

Bradford Bouley incorporates a wealth of fascinating case studies to reveal societies in flux, striving to make sense of an abundance of new information in an increasingly globalized world. The book tracks not just the intellectual trends that led to change, but also the social and cultural milieu that led to new understandings of the natural world. With 56 images and 7 maps included for added visual and geographic contexts, The Dragon and the Star provides an engaging synthesis for a wide variety of readers.