A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present [Paperback]

John Merriman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393968855 | ISBN-13: 978-0393968859 | Publication Date: August 1996 | Edition: 1st

This history of Europe since the Renaissance emphasizes not only cultural and social history, but also examines important political and diplomatic events. Major themes covered include the social bases of politics, the rise of the modern state, and relations between the different social classes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Merriman is the Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University. A specialist in nineteenth century French history, Merriman earned his Ph. D at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many books, including The Margins of City Life: Explorations on the French Urban Frontier, 1815–1851; Red City: Limoges and the French Nineteenth Century; The Agony of the Republic: The Repression of the Left in Revolutionary France, 1848–1851; and, most recently, The Stones of Balazuc: A French Village in Time (Norton, 2002). He regularly teaches the survey of modern European history at Yale. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1515 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393968855
• ISBN-13: 978-0393968859
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #812,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redressing a balance, November 7, 2000

By 

Bruce A. McMenomy (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present (Paperback)

Modern historiography has a tendency to be highly abstract. Events themselves take a back seat to trends; themes replace actual motivations of living, breathing people. It is seen as more scientific (whether reasonably or not) to view movements of peoples and states in statistical terms. The oldest form of history -- the narrative -- has fallen into some amount of discredit.

There are some of us who deplore this development, since we see in the story itself -- the whole snarled skein of the events, the characters, the people -- a kind of richness and complexity that cannot ever be present in any pure distillation of that story along abstract lines. Accordingly I welcome Prof. Merriman's new modern European history. It is suitably analytical where it needs to be, but unlike some other classic standards (Palmer and Colton, for example, comes to mind), it tends not to depart from the story of the events or to fragment that story excessively. For long stretches he is content to let that story tell itself. This puts it in a rare cluster of modern historical textbooks that presents at least the ingredient of narrative while still being written with a mature and discerning reader in mind.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Text, October 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present (Paperback)

Don't pay any attention to the bored high school brats and their negative "reviews." Anything more complicated than the menu at McDonald's would put them to sleep.

This is a lucid, engaging text that transcends the bounds of conventional historiography to borrow from literature and art to adorn a lively narrative. Merriman is a professor of history at Yale who can explain complex developments (such as the French Revolution and the rise of revolutionary nationalism) in accessible terms. It is by far the best introductory textbook on Europe sicne 1300.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent condensation of 500 years, November 3, 2003

By 

Emily L. "emisi" (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present (Paperback)

I bought this book for my second semester freshman year as a required textbook. My professor used it as a background to the primary sources we were reading, and it does indeed give excellent background reading into the period.

However, I discovered that it comes in handy more than that. Now a junior studying abroad, I dragged this rather heavy volume along with me to Europe, and use it as a basis for further research into the field. Although it isn't going to get indepth like some books can do with a specific focus (one example: it's not going to tell you the population density and makeup of 18th century Bologne) it does give a broad scope of history, and is therefore a perfect place from which to jump into deeper topics.