The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 (PENGUIN HISTORY OF EUROPE) Hardcover – May 31, 2007

I bought this book in order to read about the aftermath of the Thirty Years War, in which the notion of national sovereignty essentially overtook the extreme fragmentation of the feudal era. What I found instead was a dazzling exposition of the evolution of European society from 1648 to 1815, when Absolutism and the Enlightenment reigned, the State was consolidated and then challenged by the "nation", and the democratic political revolution began and failed, ending in military dictatorship and a war so savage that the destruction and killing were on a par with WWI.

The book starts off with a basic analysis on life and death, including how primitive transportation was, how horrendously difficult life really was in the countryside, and how the economy for most had barely changed since antiquity even with steam power and the beginnings of the industrial revolution. People were almost all born poor, worked their entire lives, and died with little prospect of improvement of their station in life. While this in many ways is the driest part of the book, it is essential for what follows and indeed for putting one's modern life in perspective.

The chapters on power and institutions were particularly fascinating to me. First, with the consolidation of centralized control and the relative decline of feudal aristocrats, there was the absolutist impulse. This supposedly put unprecedented power into the hands of a sovereign, though Blanning questions whether the notion is as cut and dried as historians have made it out to be. Second, he examines in great detail who the elites were, how they could achieve rank and power, and how their positions were changing. While essentially aristocratic as based on land ownership and religious offices, these bases were giving way to urban centers, merchants, and industrialists, which were more secular; much of this was inchoate until the French Revolution, of course, but he proves it was in motion long before the 19C upheavals we associate with them. Third, he looks at how the function of institutions were changing, as in the development of parliamentary checks and balances but also in the development of a professional bureaucracy staffed by educated men of varying backgrounds. Finally, in reference to the title, Blanning argues that much of what happened was due to the actions of kings and princes, whose principal motivation was personal glory and pride or face.

There is also a long section on religion and culture. The church, he argues, experienced a golden age of influence on the powerful and everyday life in spite of the image of Enlightenment challenges to its authority. This was the Baroque age as well as one of protestant diversification. Moreover, he posits, the rationalist philosophies that emerged were largely ignored or superceded by their romantic critics, gaining currency only in limited circles and disciplines. Finally, Blanning explains the political nature behind the art and architecture that arose in this period, with a particular focus on Louis XIV. Again, it is fascinating, a kind of Kulturgeschichte expressed in dense and elegant writing, each section a mini-essay that stands on it own.

The concluding chapters on the military situation, with a focus on Alfred the Great (with a militarization of a society) and Napoleon (using citizens to mobilize for total war), were too brief in my view, skimming over what were immensely complex wars and rapidly evolving political systems. I was disapppointed because these were the questions I wanted addressed in great detail, but then, this is not a linear history on politics and war. I will have to seek it this elsewhere (please offer suggestions!). A great theme I took away was how the state came to merge with the "nation" in this period, not only ending the sprawling and loosely organized multi-ethnic empires, but also bringing a new sense of identity as belonging to a political entity that is supposed to be more representative, if not yet democratic.

Though a bit unusual in its organization - it is not a narrative history and follows no clear chronological order - this book offers a wonderful reading experience about the early modern period in European history. It is organized about broad themes and hence not for everyone, but it absorbed my attention for a full 6 weeks of delight and near complete satisfaction. While it would be better to have some idea of what events were taking place, Blanning alludes to them in passing - this will slow some readers down, but is more or less sufficient. Finally, I would have preferred extensive footnotes, but it is not an academic book so much as a popular history. There is a good annotated bibliography.

Recommended warmly.

When I purchased two of the books from the Penguin History of Europe series, this one and the next installment by R. Evans, I had the same hope for it as for Oxford History of the United States series, of which I have read two books. Granted, the Oxford series of the US gives each author about 30 years to write about and about one country, a considerably easier task than writing about hundreds of years of the entire Europe. Nevertheless, I believe it's possible to write a book like that in a way that appeals to an average educated and curious reader, without inundating him/her with facts that have little to no relevance beyond academic or graduate paper research. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Blanning did with this book.
Very little of this book is dedicated to interesting and conceptual frameworks. There were some here and there, especially in the beginning of the book about communication and transportation during the covered time period. There was a somewhat interesting sustained discussion about whether industrial revolution was truly a revolution or not. And in the second half of the book, there was a sustained discussion of the enlightenment, culture, arts and music; although next to nothing about scientific revolution or development of law.
The most unfortunate aspect of the book is the constant dropping of names, places, dates, events and etc. - which truly becomes an inundation of facts without any relevance. It's as if the author was trying to impress his readers by providing as many names, dates and places as possible. This would have been fine for a reference book, but in a narrative history, it was nothing but a distraction that made me skim some sections of the book and outright skip others.
As an example, the French Revolution had a very minimal discussion as it related to politics and ideas. Most of the discussion of the French Revolution was in terms of its revolutionary and Napoleonic wars - the most boring and the least interesting aspect of it.
The book is organized not by chronology, but by subjects. I understand it's difficult to organize 170 years of continental history strictly by chronology, but I think a chronological organization is better incorporated into one's long term memory and provides a better understanding of the period. With fewer facts, and more discussions of conceptual frameworks, chronological organization, even for a book covering over a hundred years, would have been best.
Lastly, Blanning's writing style is straight forward, relatively fluid and often witty. And this somewhat compensated for the often dry material in terms of its content. It took me 2.5 months to read it, but it could easily be cut down by 250-300 pages without losing any of the relevance for an average reader.
All in all, I am somewhat disappointed by this book and would not highly recommend it. But if you are a fast reader and don't mind skimming or even skipping some sections of the book, it could be worth a read.

This book is perhaps the best book out there on life in the 18th century. Blanning goes into almost every detail one wants to see about the time period mentioned. He covers everything from transportation, to disease, food supply, warfare, and even sexual practices and morality. He makes these references in the sense that the 18th century was one of transition. The destruction of the Thirty Years War based on religion ended with the destruction of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars as a national struggle. The modern world was ripe for the picking thanks to the improvements made during the 18th century. If you want to know anything about this time period: war, government reform, economics, family life, morality, medicinal practices etc. this book is the best. Another nice aspect about it is that the book is divided into subsections within subsections so finding the information you want to know about is quite easy.