John Gascoigne, Emeritus Professor, taught history at the University of New South Wales from 1980 until 2016. His previous books include Encountering the Pacific in the Age of the Enlightenment (Cambridge, 2014), which won the NSW Premier's General History Prize in 2014, and Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, the British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge, 1998).

• Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The Renaissance monarchy; 3. Absolutism; 4. Rivals to absolutism; 5. Revolution, reaction and reform, 1776–1850; 6. An expanding state, 1850–1914; 7. From war to war, 1914–45; 8. Science, the state and globalisation; Epilogue; Conclusion.

'At last, a comprehensive and eminently readable survey that charts the intricate bond between science and government over the past five hundred years. Gascoigne establishes that the ascent of 'modern' science was entwined with the concurrent rise of the modern state. The consequences of which helped shape both domains – as well as the modern world.' Mordechai Feingold, California Institute of Technology