The author has no idea what he is writing about. The so-called “Enlightenment” was as retrograde as the “Rennaisance”, which among other lovely things, reintroduced slavery into European culture. Why, just consider the wonderful things the Enlightenment did for France and the Continent: ideological murder on an industrial scale, larger scale war than had ever been known, the Red Terror, the complete destruction of the French economy and severe dmage to other Continental economies...ah, yes, the Enlightenment. It must have been a good thing because “intellectuals” in universities have been telling us that it was for a very long time.
The Reformation “made us rich”, if such a thing matters. Weber knew it, but who even knows his name today?
The Founding Fathers cited the literary ideas of natural rights, and inherent freedoms. Taking a look at figures such as Locke, you can see where the citations came from. The colonies of the European powers certainly had scholars who heard of and found ideas such as Lockean liberalism appealing to them. However, Europe’s refusal to grant their requests resulted in Revolutions.
The Enlightenment was good because the philosophers such as Locke and Voltaire were the source of inspiration for the writing of our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Which while flawed, is still a great”flawed” way to run a government.
The Enlightenment was problematic specifically because, as you said, it was also an age of warfare. Nationalism grew to fruition. Secularism and Enlightenment Philosophy did little or nothing to steady the tide of this warfare between powers, or colonial exploitation.
I would argue that throughout the Enlightenment, and at least Two World Wars Nationalism became a major world religion.
Mokyr is writing about the British Enlightenment which was very different from the French. It was more involved with science and industry than with political or philosophical theories.
In the past I'd have agreed with you and identified the Enlightenment with the French Revolution and later totalitarian utopian projects. But the context has changed.
Years ago we thought in Cold War terms. Today the encounter between the West, which experienced the Enlightenment, and the Muslim World, which didn't, influences the way we think about the 18th century.