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This celebrated account of the decline of the ancient world describes the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the emergence of the new medieval European order. ... Read more

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The Decline of the Ancien tWorld by A.H.M. Jones
The product came quickly, but there was no indication that it had been warehouse damaged with water stains and wrinkling. ... Read more

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This is an incredibly detailed account of the development of Europe since 1870. Joll moves from one country to another in the space of a few lines, making detailed comparisons along the way, paying attention to intellectual and social trends as well as political developments. ... Read more

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The European century
This is a lucid synthetic survey of Europe 1870-1970, paying attention to intellectual and social trends as well as political developments. Joll has an eye for the telling quotation and a firm grasp of the period. He was an excellent historian. Harper & Row (or whatever the firm is called now) should never have let this book go out of print. ... Read more

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This new book examines the role of the Tsarist General Staff in studying and administering Russia’s Asian borderlands. It considers the nature of the Imperial Russian state, the institutional characteristics of the General Staff, and Russia’s relationship with Asia.

During the nineteenth century, Russia was an important player in the so-called ‘Great Game’ in central Asia. Between 1800 and 1917 officers of the Russian General Staff travelled extensively through Turkey, central Asia and the Far East, gathering intelligence that assisted in the formation of future war plans.

It goes on to consider tactics of imperial expansion, and the role of military intelligence and war planning with respect to important regions including the Caucasus, central Asia and the Far East. In the light of detailed archival research, it investigates objectively questions such as the possibility of Russia seizing the Bosphorus Straits, and the probability of an expedition to India. Overall, this book provides a comprehensive account of the Russian General Staff, its role in Asia, and of Russian military planning with respect to a region that remains highly strategically significant today.

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This volume opens with the Norman conquest, William I's bold incursion in 1066 that propelled a new dynasty to the throne of England, and covers three centuries of drama, intrigue, loyalty, betrayal, courage, cowardice, and crime.

About the series A Royal History of England:

From the beginning of monarchical power in Norman times to the present queen, the British royal family has experienced many scandals, triumphs, and changes in public image, but few of their reigns can be described as uneventful. With contributions by specialist authors and contemporary illustrations of royal heraldry and coats of arms, Antonia Fraser has edited a definitive and entertaining history of one of the most powerful monarchies in the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful
This is a wonderful book. I love Antonio Fraser. The book is in good shape and very readable. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Basic and easy reading
It's not great history but it's short and readable and has nice pictures. I read a lot of history but I've always had trouble sorting out all those Henries and Edwards in between William the Conqueror and Henry VIII and this was a great help. It goes from William the Conqueror up to 1400, which is when Henry IV bumped off Richard II. It's only 117 pages, some of which are illustrations so you just get the basic stories of the kings and queens. There's a little about Wales and Scotland but, even allowing for its brevity, Ireland is short-changed. It reminded me at times of Sellar and Yates's "1066 and All That" which parodies potted histories and snap judgments and I don't know what professional historians think of its accuracy, but it does the job it sets out to do. ... Read more

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H G Koenigsberger's account begins with the disintegration of the western Roman Empire and traces across the millennium of the Middle Ages the gradual crystallisation of a new and distinctive European identity. He covers the Islamic, Byzantine and Central Asian worlds in his account. ... Read more

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There is probably no greater authority on the modern history of central and eastern Europe than Ivan Berend, whose previous work, Decades of Crisis, was hailed by critics as "masterful" and "the broadest synthesis of the modern social, economic, and cultural history of the region that we possess." Now, having brought together and illuminated this region's storm-tossed history in the twentieth century, Berend turns his attention to the equally turbulent period that preceded it. The "long" nineteenth century, extending up to World War I, contained the seeds of developments and crises that continue to haunt the region today.
The book begins with an overview of the main historical trends in the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, during which time the region lost momentum and became the periphery, no longer in step with the rising West. It concludes with an account of the persisting authoritarian political structures and the failed modernization that paved the way for social and political revolts. The origins of twentieth-century extremism and its tragedies are plainly visible in this penetrating account. ... Read more

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Superb Synthesis
At last, a synthesis of Eastern European history of the 19th and early 20th centuries that covers all the major issues, social, eocnomic, political and intellectual, uses the best in both pre-and post-Communist era scholarly studies, and presents in a clear, well-organized, and readable style.He has no axes to grind, and explains clearly how the many ethnic groups and their main oppressors sharpened theirs by adapting western concepts of nationalism and group identity, shifted these powerful ideas from an intellectual elite to the masses, and helped bring about the horrors of two world wars and the current mess in the Balkans.Well done. Essential reading. ... Read more

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Very important and a good read
This fascinating survey of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia offers histories of all the important communities in the East including in Bulgaria, Czechslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Russia and Yugoslavia.Obviously other Gypsy communities are left out, such as those in Greece, Albania and Turkey.But such is life, the book stands alone nonetheless.

Each chapter is a veritable encyclopedia of Gypsy life.For instance on Bulgaria the book describes how Gypsy women refused to don the Muslim veil forced upon Muslim women after the Turkish colonization of Eastern Europe.The book is packed full of data and demographics.For instance we learn that in 1910 there were 120,000 Roma listed on the census and in 1930 the estimate was 140,000.Muslim Gypsies were forcibly expelled from Bulgaria after the war.The book details the various anti-Gypsy laws that existed from Turkish times to the era of fascism and Communism.Usually disguised as `anti-nomadism' laws the target was obvious.

In Czechslovakia the Roma worked as castle musicians and metal workers in the 16th century.In 1780 there were 43,000 Roma in Slovakia.In addition the Gypsys of Slovakia survived the war because of the intervention of the Slovak leader Jozef Tiso and his desire, despite being an ally of Hitler, to have his country free of Nazism.Roma in enighbouring lands were not so luck and the Holocaust destroyed many communities.

In Rumania, long home to one of the largest concentrations of Roma they totaled according to estimates almost half a million or 2% of the population in 1977.In 1992 some claimed there were 2.2 million Gypsies a total of 10% of the population of the country.

In Yugoslavia the Gypsies were part of a patchwork of nationalities that hated one another.One time they were viewed by Serbs in the 1920s as being allied to the Muslim Albaniansbut later the reverse would happen when the Croatian Ustasha Nazi collaborator Catholic government would exterminate the Gypsy population of Croatia and after the Nato `liberation' of Kosovo the same would happen in 1999 when Muslim Albanians cleansed the land of Gypsies (there had been 14,000 in Kosovo in 1971).In Macedonia the largest Gypsy community was constructed in the 1960s called Suto Orizari. In 1991 there were 200,000 Roma in Macedonia.

This is simply a fascinating book that anyone with an interest in minorities, European history of Gypsies should get.One unfortunate fact: the book does not mention if there were any contacts between Gypsy communities and Jewish ones.

Seth J. Frantzman

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The new editions of Access to History combine all the strengths of this well-loved series with a new design and features that allow all students access to the content and study skills needed to achieve exam success. The Second Edition of this popular title has been revised to reflect the needs of the current specifications. The book starts by examining the crucial events of 1944-7, which led to the break down of the Second World War alliance between the 'Big Three' and the onset of the Cold War. It shows how the Cold War shaped post-war Europe through the creation of two great military and economic blocs. Key events such as the Berlin bockade of 1948-9, the Hungarian revolt of 1956, the second Berlin crisis of 1958-61 and collapse of Communism from 1989-91. Inthis new edition additional material on detente has been added. Throughout the book key dates, terms and issues are highlighted, and historical interpretations of key debates are outlined. Summary diagrams are included to consolidate knowledge and understanding of the period, and exam style questions and tips for each examination board provide the opportunity to develop exam skills. ... Read more

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Is the history of the modern world the history of Europe writ large? Or is it possible to situate the history of modernity as a world historical process apart from its origins in Western Europe? In Part One of this posthumous collection of essays, Marshall G.S. Hodgson, a former professor of history at the University of Chicago, challenges adherents of both Eurocentrism and multiculturalism to rethink the place of Europe in world history. He argues that the line that connects Ancient Greeks to the Renaissance to modern times is an optical illusion, and that a global and Asia-centered history can better locate the European experience in the shared histories of humanity.In Part Two of the work Hodgson shifts the focus and in a parallel move seeks to locate the history of Islamic civilization in a world historical framework. Finally, in Part Three he argues that in the end there is but one history--global history--and that all partial or privileged accounts must necessarily be resituated in a world historical context.The book also includes an introduction by the editor, Edmund Burke III, contextualizing Hodgson's work in world history and Islamic history. ... Read more

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An overlooked review and revision of history theory
Marshall Hodgson was a scholar of rigorous and detailed precision.He gave no easy answers.In fact, he argued that in the science of history, above all other sciences, there can be no easy answers.What was necessary of historians was a total and unrelenting commitment to uncovering every possible detail on top of every possible detail in the study of earlier ages.....and even then, the historian would be truly lacking, but the effort MUST go on.

It is for this reason that I must respectfully disagree with an earlier reviewer.Hodgson's writing is not dreamy poetry....this is true.But every one of his sentances is jam packed with information.It only takes effort from the reader ( a reader truly interested in LEARNING) to decipher the incredibly important message Hodgson is trying to convey.

Part of this message is that there is only one global history, not an "Eastern" or "Western" history ... not a history that sets one history up to put another history down.Efforts to reinforce these generalizations are manipulative and, under closer scrutiny, factually incorrect.

In this book, you will find a truly fascinating philosophy of history as told through modernity and the Islamicate.

Tough going but worth every bite
Hodgson was the pre-eminent Western historian of Islamic societies, as set forth in "The Venture of Islam."In "Rethinking," Hodgson's widow has seen to the publication of a series of broader essays on the philosophy of history as applied to the world at large.Part 1tries to get outside Euro-centrism as best as an Occidental can.Part 2 considers Islam in a global context, and Part 3 discusses commonalities and differences that make for meaningful comparison, decompositions, and aggregations in regional and global history.

The most interesting chapter is entitled "Modernity and the Islamic Heritage." Here Hodgson inquires whether it is possible for a society to be Modern yet not Western, given that the presuppositions of Modernity reach deep into the Medieval Occident.For example, "with an effort of the imagination, one can guess what the institutions of Modernity might look have been like if it had developed, for instance, in Islamic society... The nation-state, with its constitutionalism, its particularist characters of rights and responsibilities, stems from the corporate conceptions of Medieval Western society.From the very different legal conceptions of Medieval Islamic society, with their abstract egalitarian universalism, there might well have developed, instead of the nation-state, some international corps of super-ulama, regulating an industrial society on the basis of some super-sharia code."This tension between Western-ness and Modernity is palpable in the West, but elsewhere it is a defining issue running through politics, economics, and warfare.It is especially evident in the violent Islamist organizations, where Modernity is used to combat Westernization.

The successful resolution of those tensions, in the Islamic world as elsewhere on Earth, will be the only way that civilization of any kind can continue at all.

Tough reading to glean a few gems.
This book is a posthumous collection of Hodgson's essays on world history, Islamic history in particular.Much of the book was unpublished at the time of Hodgson's sudden death.Consequently, the book reads as if Hodgson was thinking out loud.The prose is very dense and he often pounds home points over several pages that could have been made in a paragraph or two.Nonetheless, many of the ideas presented by Hodgson were advanced for the time, and a necessary correction to William McNeill, his fellow University of Chicago prof.Hodgson's main thrust is to set right the place of Islam--or what he calls the "Islamicate"--in world history.This argument should be well-heeded in view of the overly Eurocentric tone that much work on world history has taken.Specialists on Islam will appreciate the book the most, and anyone interested in world history can benefit from it--but it is a very tough read that could easily be pared down to a precis. ... Read more

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This is G.R. Elton's classic account of the Reformation, revealing the issues and preoccupations which seemed central to the age and portraying its leading figures with vigor and realism. Professor Elton presents a lively and accessible overview of this key era in European history. The book gives full attention to religion and theology, restores Luther to the predominant position from which it had become fashionable to remove him, and focuses on Charles V as a pivotal player in the period. The text is a tribute both to Elton's gift for concise exposition of complex historical problems and his masterly command of narrative. The result is an account of the Reformation era which is as clear-minded and readable as any published in the thirty five years since its first publication. This new edition includes an updated bibliography and an afterword by Andrew Pettegree placing Professor Elton's account of the Reformation in its scholarly context. ... Read more

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In this work, Antony Alcock recounts the historical development of Europe from the Greek city states through to the 2000 Nice Treaty on European Integration. This Short History of Europe is told simply and accessibly, yet provides the political, economic, social and cultural context for Europe's increasing integration, based on the three pillars of Greek political thought, Roman law and the Christian religion, including analysis of new material, Antony Alcock brings his history fully up-to-date looking at such issues as the collapse of Yugoslavia, immigration and asylum seekers and finally consideration of the future of Europe in the 21st century.
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Good textbook like overview
There have been a couple of very big name histories of Europe published in the last few years, this one compares to them suprisingly well. Whilst still providing an engaging narrative of the broad sweep of events, it does have a slightly more textbook feel, with the author regularly listing points as to why, for example, the Roman Empire fell in the west yet survived in the east. From the squabling Greek city states of ancient times, almost continuously at war with each other until exhausted and falling prey to larger neighbouring powers, to the 20th century and the European nation states doing exactly the same thing with the same consequences, the book does rather read as a convincing case for the need for european integration to compete with the rest of the world. Still, whether the modern European nation state is too 'small time' to survive and prosper, as the author feels the Greek city states were, is a question that is just too early to answer in the still early dawn of globalisation and the new boundary free information age.

I'd certainly reccomend this book, particularly for a student who needs to get a good grasp of the overview of European history as quickly as possible.
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Unlike most existing textbooks on the economic history of modern Europe, which offer a country-by-country approach, The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe rethinks Europe's economic history since 1700 as unified and pan-European, with the material organised by topic rather than by country. This second volume tracks Europe's economic history through three major phases since 1870. The first phase was an age of globalization and of European economic and political dominance that lasted until First World War. The second, from 1914 to 1945, was one of war, deglobalization, and depression and the third was one of growing integration not only within Europe but also between Europe and the global economy. Leading authors offer comprehensive and accessible introductions to these patterns of globalization and deglobalization as well as to key themes in modern economic history such as economic growth, business cycles, sectoral developments, and population and living standards. ... Read more

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How could the Protestant Reformation take off from a tiny town in the middle of Saxony, which contemporaries regarded as a mud hole? How could a man of humble origins who was deeply scared by the devil become a charismatic leader and convince others that the pope was the living Antichrist? Martin Luther founded a religion which up to this day determines many people's lives in intimate ways, as did Jean Calvin in Geneva one generation later. This is the first book which uses the approaches of new cultural history to describe how Reformation Europe came about and what it meant. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Europe; History / Europe / General; History / Europe / Western; History / Military / World War I; History / Military / World War II; History / World; ... Read more

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A very worthy read
This is a very good "introduction" to the history of Europe. It covers most of the important events in the history of Europe, and very masterfully succeeds in keeping a thread among them. It starts from Roman downfall at around 500 AD and finishes with year 1900. It is pretty amazing that the author anticipates further clashes in Europe which happened in few years time (world war I). It not only covers the historical events and wars, but also gives a good insight into the cultural and social aspects of the time. For example, it digs into the reasons of Roman downfall, renaissance, and the feudal system. Highly recommended! ... Read more

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Modern Greece: A History since 1821 is a chronological account of the political, economic, social, and cultural history of Greece, from the birth of the Greek state in 1821 to 2008 by two leading authorities.

• Pioneering and wide-ranging study of modern Greece, which incorporates the most recent Greek scholarship
• Sets the history of modern Greece within the context of a broad geo-political framework
• Includes detailed portraits of leading Greek politicians
• Provides in-depth considerations on the profound economic and social changes that have occurred as a result of Greece’s EU membership

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MySearchLab provides students with a complete understanding of the research process so they can complete research projects confidently and efficiently. Students and instructors with an internet connection can visit www.MySearchLab.com and receive immediate access to thousands of full articles from the EBSCO ContentSelect database. In addition, MySearchLab offers extensive content on the research process itself–including tips on how to navigate and maximize time in the campus library, a step-by-step guide on writing a research paper, and instructions on how to finish an academic assignment with endnotes and bibliography.­

This engaging collection of primary sources, selected fiction excerpts, and images explores important events, figures, and themes in European history, from 1789 to 1900.

19th Century Europe offers five types of selections: memoirs of individuals who witnessed important historical events; excerpts from works of fiction; writings of influential figures and theorists; significant historical documents, and images. Primary source selections acquaint students with the writings and documents that helped shape the long 19th century European history, while the fiction selections bring historical events to the level of human life. The selections explore significant themes of this time period–modernization, liberalism, and nationalism, society and culture, the relationship between the individual and society, and the relationship between Europe and the world–enhancing students' understanding of the historical events presented in course.

Both challenging and captivating, 19th Century Europe provides students with a glimpse of the emotions, ideologies, and attitudes that lie behind the facts and figures of history, allowing them to experience the past and to better understand it.

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The complete Short Oxford History of Europe provides a concise, readable, and authoritative point of entry for the history of Europe from the Ancient Greeks to the present day in eleven volumes. In each chapter a leading expert offers focused and penetrating insights into the major themes and influences of the period.
Lying between the two great "peaks" of European history, the Reformation and the Enlightenment in the centuries before and after, the seventeenth century seems not to have a popular identity itself. And yet, as Professor Bergin points on in the Introduction, it is the very proliferation of major events, crises and processes throughout Eruope that has made this transitional age so difficult to label.
In this book, the seventeenth century is fully explored by Professor Bergin and six major authors as they address, in turn, economy, society, politics, war, international relations, science, thought and culture ('The Age of Curiosity'), and Europe in the wider world. In a set of chapters covering and contrasting the European experience across the century, both the reader and the student are offered a rich, lively, and provocative introduction to the period, and a superbly authoritative context for more detailed work. ... Read more

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During the 18th century, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, protoindustrialization, and colonial conquest made their marks on women's lives in a variety of ways. Women's Roles in Eighteenth-Century Europe examines women of all ages and social backgrounds as they experienced the major events of this tumultuous period of sweeping social and political change.

The book offers an inclusive portrayal of women from across Europe, surveying nations from Portugal to the Russian Empire, from Finland to Italy, including the often overlooked women of Eastern Europe. It depicts queens, an empress, noblewomen, peasants, and midwives. Separate chapters on family, work, politics, law, religion, arts and sciences, and war explore the varying contexts of the feminine experience, from the most intimate aspects of daily life to broad themes and conditions.