Customer Reviews

The Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1715 (Second Edition) (The Norton History of Modern Europe)

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When my son began the study of Modern European History in college I decided to reacquaint myself with the subject. "The Age of Religious Wars" is a good place to start. Covering the years, 1559-1715, this tome takes the reader from the End of the Reformation to the beginning of the era of the 18th century balance of power.

This book focuses on the big themes of history. It tells the stories of Kings and warriors, merchants and clerics, artists and philosophers, but very little about the common people of the era.

This book is very well organized. Beginning with the situation in Europe in 1559, the first chapter gives the religious lay of the land in the countries of Western Europe at the start of the era. Chapter 2 outlines the beginning political situation in Eastern Europe.

In Chapter 3 the author studies the economic theories and commercial forms which fueled the economies of the age.

Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the political ebb and flow between absolutism and rising constitutionalism. Although the dominant figure of the era was France's Sun King, Louis XIV, he was the architect of a system which would die in a sea of blood before the 18th Century was out. In his day, Louis XIV lead the superpower of the age, but, toward the end of his long reign, he overplayed his hand, losing much of the territorial gains which he had temporally enjoyed.

The political upheaval of the era which was a harbinger of things to come was England's Glorious Revolution of 1688. For perhaps the first time in history, a monarch's right to reign was made dependent on the support of his subjects. Protestants William of Orange and his wife, Queen Mary, daughter of the late King Charles II, were invited by the nobles to challenge Mary's brother, the Catholic King James II. The resulting overthrow of James, in clear contrast to Louis' absolutism, laid the groundwork for the concept of government by consent of the governed, which would receive expanding application during the succeeding centuries.

In Chapter 5 Prof. Dunn reflects on the Age of Genius which truly this era was. Emerging from the intellectually stagnant Middle Ages, Europe erupted into a creative age virtually unique in history. Science was advanced by the likes of Copernicas, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and Newton. Renaissance art bust forth under the creative genius of da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Durer and El Greco, to be followed by Baroque masters such as Rubens, Van Dyck and Velazquez. Europe still glories in the architectural heritage of Bernini and Wren. Our philosophy and political science still draw inspiration from the writings of Montaigne, Pascal, Hobbes Sponoza and Locke. Theatres of the world still interpret the works of Shakespeare and Marlowe, Lope de Vega and Calderon, Corneile, Moliere and Racine.

The book concludes in its sixth chapter with an analysis of the new balance of power which would carry Europe into a new age. A series of wars, Sweden's moment in the international spotlight and giant personalities such as Peter the Great would all combine to make Europe the place it would be in the 18th century.

Overall, this book is a good survey of the Age of Religious Wars. I had not read a college text in a long time and I had more acclimated to learning history in biographies and books more focused on specific topics. I am glad that I read it and give it 4 stars.

Richard Dunn's "The Age of Religious Wars" is one of the best, if not the best, text available on European history, 1559-1715. Dunn, in a terse, concise style, covers all of the major events and trends in Europe (yes, all of Europe - Scandinavia, Russia and the Balkans are included) of the period. His greatest success, though, is his portrayal of the psychology and systems of thought of the era. But if you think you'll find this a bit dry (you won't), Dunn writes with an exceptional sense of irony and sprinkles humour throughout. This is probably the best piece on the era for any student or amateur historian who is only vaguely or moderately acquainted with this age.

Dunn is an excellent writer. He is not flowery like the Durants, but his prose is elegant and to the point. He covers a great deal in a fair amount of detail. His book is very well organised and full of well chosen illustrations. The book is an easy size to carry around and very competitively priced (this kind of book is often very expensive, this one is not). If you want an introduction to this period, I do not think you could do better than this book. I could not put it down (Dunn knows how to be entertaining) and since completing it have referred to it often.

This is the second book I've read in the Norton History of Modern Europe (the first was Eugene F. Rice, Jr.'s The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559 (Second Edition) (The Norton History of Modern Europe), and I've been highly impressed with both of them.

(Edit: I have now read every book in the series except Kings and Philosophers, 1689-1789 (The Norton History of Modern Europe), and I think it is in general the best series of its kind. The Penguin History of Europe series is almost as good, and better in some ways of course; both are a bit better than the Short Oxford History of Europe series, though that is good too. For the nineteenth century, Hobsbawm's series starting with The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 is the best.)

They both cover the basic events fairly thoroughly and simply, presenting the background but not getting lost in details. Although focusing on political history, they both cover many other aspects of history--military strategy, economics, demographics, art and culture, philosophy--briefly at least.

Speaking as someone who occasionally has to teach the subject, in my opinion organization is the greatest challenge in presenting history, and one of the greatest compliments I can pay to any history book is to call it well-organized. Dunn's book is generally very well-organized; I have only a few minor quibbles, and I doubt that I could improve on his organization without introducing bigger problems.

Other quibbles are much less significant: I would have liked more detail regarding the War of the Spanish Succession, more information about changes in military strategy in this period (since firearms underwent constant improvement, and the nature of seige warfare changed dramatically--but how exactly did these change the strategy and nature of warfare?), more on the culture of Restoration England, maybe something on the culture of the Puritans (he tells us nothing of John Foxe, and almost nothing of John Milton or John Bunyan).

However, I am fairly familiar with the cultural history of Europe (by which I mean art, music, literature, philosophy and religion), so in reading these books my main concern is to fill in the political, military, and economic background, which I don't know very well. If your situation is similar to mine, I guarantee you will find these books very rewarding.

One other thing I find most gratifying is the well chosen illustrations: although printed in black and white, they are often obscure enough to be new to me, while perfectly commenting the text. For instance, the closing pages show a woodcut of Peter the Great cutting a Russian nobleman's beard, in which Peter (actually an impressively large man) is portrayed as a giggling, child-size pest to the large, dignified nobleman; the opposite page features a print from 1698 showing Peter's execution of the streltsy (his elite guard) rebels: row after row of hangings and beheadings on edifying display for the passing carriages. You didn't see it in your art history survey course, but it reveals the nature of Peter's Russia far more effectively than anything that you did.

The maps are also perfect, which enhances any history book.

If you are looking for a history of modern European culture, I do not recommend these books, however, as their focus lies elsewhere. For that purpose, I suggest starting with Jacques Barzun's opinionated but thorough From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present supplemented with a good art history textbook such as Jansen's History of Art: The Western Tradition. If the religious issues that attended the religious wars are your concern, you should consider the The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) by Jaroslav Pelikan.

After this book, if your thirst for early modern European history has not been quenched, I recommend turning to Diarmaid MacCulloch's The Reformation. Another excellent book that overlaps with this considerable is The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe: 1648-1815 (Penguin History of Europe). I would read this book by Dunn first, and other books in the Norton series, before those, though they are very good as well.

I was extremely happy with the reliability of this company and I fully recommend purchasing your books from this supplier.

This book is a good overview of the main events of the period. Dunn does a great job explaining each event.

Reads like a story, instead of a series of "facts", like most history books. Highly readable. Very interesting.