In the exhilarating quarter-century between 1775 and 1799, people embarked on a new era. The American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution established a new image of humanity – suddenly, people were to be free and equal. Technology, art, and society made unprecedented advances. The modern Western world was born.

But how did George Washington and Marie Antoinette experience these transformative years? What did Goethe and Schiller risk, what did circumnavigators or aviation pioneers dream of, and what did Kant and Napoleon struggle with? In a captivating tour d’horizon, this book follows prominent life paths that often intersected in surprising ways; it tells of friends and foes, adventures and innovations, triumphs and failures. In many key moments, it becomes evident how the societal foundations and values in Germany, England, France, and the newly emerging USA were formed, which continue to shape our world today and must be continually renegotiated.