1700s: Adam Smith's groundbreaking treatise on economics, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, is published in 1776. The book outlines the laissez-faire notion of economics that holds that the government should not interfere in business or trade.

Today: Great Britain and the United States have, to some extent, adopted Smith's ideas, although attempts by the U.S. government to break up the Microsoft corporation sparked many debates about the role of the government in commercial affairs.

1700s: Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson's lengthy poems and essays (such as Pope's 1711 work An Essay on Criticism and Johnson's 1765 Preface to Shakespeare) are widely read; in their work, each writer offers his notions of what constitutes quality drama and poetry.

Today: Literary criticism has somewhat given way to literary theory, a discipline that examines not only the workings of literary pieces but...