A History of the Modern World (9th Edition) [Hardcover]

R. R. Palmer (Author), Joel Colton (Author), Lloyd Kramer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Roswell Palmer, a former professor of history at Princeton University, was educated at the University of Chicago and Cornell University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1934. His books include Catholics and Unbelievers in Eighteenth-Century France, Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution, and the two-volume Age of the Democratic Revolution, the first volume of which won the Bancroft Prize. A former president of the American Historical Association, he has received honorary degrees from universities around the world, and was awarded the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize for History in 1990. He and his wife live in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Joel Colton taught in Duke University’s history department for forty-two years. He was educated at City College of New York and Columbia University, which awarded him his Ph.D. in 1950. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been a Phi Beta Kappa lecturer and the recipient of Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships. His books include Léon Blum: Humanist in Politics, for which he received a Mayflower Award. He has cowritten, with R. R. Palmer, the previous eight editions of A History of the Modern World. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Lloyd Kramer is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include Threshold of a New World: Intellectuals and the Exile Experience in Paris, 1830–1848 and Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions, which won the Gilbert Chinard Prize and the Annibel Jenkins Biography Prize. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1248 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 9 Sub edition (January 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375413987
• ISBN-13: 978-0375413988
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE text of Modern European History, January 28, 2006

By 

James Petersen (Mililani, Hawaii United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A History of the Modern World (Hardcover)

It is difficult to add to what reviewers have already provided. I used this text when I was a classroom AP teacher for a number of reasons. Among those reasons was that while most K-12 textbooks are the product of a committee, (committee- a terrestrial life form having at least six legs and no brain.) this book is largely the work of the late Dr. Robert Roswell Palmer. It was written as if the author felt that the history of Modern Europe was not a collection of chapters but rather a story, a narrative to be read the way one reads a novel. There is a continuity to the writing and an elegance of prose that can only be achieved by a text like this. Dr. Palmer was a wonderful historian and a marvellously accessable teacher who took the time to answer letters personally on his old manual typewriter. His passing is lamented.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable resource, A remarkable book, April 3, 2005

By 

Ann (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of the Modern World (9th Edition) (Hardcover)

A History of the Modern World is an informative, all-encompassing compendium on European history. I was able to attain a 5 on the AP European History exam independent of teaching instruction and based on this book alone. And yet, even if I hadn't reaped an academic reward from this book, the experience of reading it carries a reward in of itself, for I genuinely feel as though this book changed my perspective on society. As the narrative of European history progresses, from the Renaissance to recent European events, Palmer's eloquent and informative prose allowed me to interpret patterns in social structure, politics, and economics that, I feel, give me a greater perspective on modern society. In that sense, A History of the Modern World is a book that holds great gratification for serious and committed readers- in or outside the classroom.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, compulsive, fun, & enjoyable, September 13, 2005

By 

Jonny Harman "dreamconsciousness.com" (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of the Modern World (9th Edition) (Hardcover)

I bought this book because for a while now I have been reading up on world history. Also, many of the customer reviews for the book seemed extremely positive. I can now say that this book was as good as the reviews and as good or better than any other such books that I have read.

When considering single (or, in this case, double) volumes that cover such a massive topic area, two complaints commonly crop up. The first is usually that such a work is too dense or impenetrable for casual history-enthusiasts. Normally, I argue that this can only be expected; but in this case I think I can say that the book shouldn't be too much of a problem for most people, even if they are fairly new to reading up on history. Also, with some focus on the lighter (or more cultured) aspects of history - such as the development of European art, etc - I found there to be plenty of breathing space between paragraphs that were perhaps more challenging.

The second complaint usually has it that one or two volumes surely cannot boast of being a 'history of the WHOLE world'. Again, I normally counter this by saying that of course this cannot be expected either. Naturally, the full history of the whole world cannot be condensed into merely a few thousand pages. However, in the case of "A History of the 'Modern' World", this argument is almost redundant. The book does not promise to review every culture and history that has been; it promises to consider the 'modern world' and discuss where that came from. i.e., if a culture no longer exists and had little effect on the world, then it is not really for the book to consider. Put another way, the emphasis is on the cultures and civilisations of yesterday and how they all came together and influenced each other to form the cultures and civilisations of today. Given that the thesis of this book is therefore more specific than is often assumed, I felt that everything was covered exceptionally well.

So, in brief, this book is neither too dense or too brief. Further, I found it to be a highly compulsive read that kept me turning the pages at home, on the bus, on the train, and at various breaks during my working day. The material was fascinating and fairly well balanced and I believe that it put reasonably fair emphasis on most of the cultures of the world relative to their size and influence, etc. I also found it to compliment nicely all other books I've read on the subject, and its maps and graphs did a lot to help me process the information and gain a good understanding. Most importantly, though, is that it was just plain fun and enjoyable. I recommend this book very highly.