Heroic Imagination Describes the historical period and the wide manifistation of creativity that took place between 1815 and 1848 in Europe, from Napoleon's downfall in the battle of Waterloo in 1815 to the "Restoration" that sought to bring back the old order preceding the French Revolution. While revolutions and historicle events were shaping the world, the "collective consciousness" of the public began to integrate with the creative consciousness of the individual. The creative energies of artists, philosophers, poets, political and social thinkers emerged and produced some of the most revered artistic geniuses in history, such as Beethoven, Byron, Pushkin, Balzac, Stendhal, Victor Hugo, Delacroix, Goya, and Goethe.

Frederic Ewen vividly depicts the "new" world of the early nineteenth century, and the assemblage of genius that produced a body of art that has become the unforgettable property of all ages.