European history: medieval period, middle ages Books

Book SynopsisLate Roman Warlords reconstructs the careers of some of the men who shaped (and were shaped by) the last quarter century of the Western Empire. There is a need for a new investigation of these warlords based on primary sources and including recent historical debates and theories. The difficult sources for this period have been analysed (and translated as necessary) to produce a chronological account, and relevant archaeological and numismatic evidence has been utilised.An overview of earlier warlords, including Aetius, is followed by three studies of individual warlords and the regions they dominated. The first covers Dalmatia and Marcellinus, its ruler during the 450s and 460s. A major theme is the question of Marcellinus'' western or eastern affiliations: using an often-ignored Greek source, Penny MacGeorge suggests a new interpretation.The second part is concerned with the Gallic general Aegidius and his son Syagrius, who ruled in northern Gaul, probably from Soissons. This extends Trade Reviewa painstaking...sound reworking of the conventional narrative of the period. * Early Medieval Europe *It is likely to be some time before these shadowy warlords receive suc detailed treatment again in English. * Michael Whitby *The author has provided a generally intelligent guide through the tangled web of sources and events for the final decades of the western empire, and in so doing has helped to shed further light on the important theme of late Roman warlords. There is still scope for a comprehensive, analytical study of this phenomenon, but any such study will find the volume under review an invaluable source. * Nottingham Medieval Studies *

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Book SynopsisHow did the Anglo-Saxons obtain the treasure that tempted Vikings to raid England frequently in the ninth century and again between 980 and 1018? As Britain then had no gold mine and its lead mines yielded very little silver, this treasure must have been imported. Some may have been given, but most was obtained by trade. Until the ninth century the main source was Francia where there was a lively demand for English produce. Cross Channel trade flourished, much of it passing through the major ports, or wics, that developed in the seventh century. The rapid decline of this trade in the ninth century was caused, not by the Vikings, but by a general shortage of new silver in western Europe after c. 850, reflected in the debasement of the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon coinages. Silver was, however, imported to England by the Danes who settled there in the late ninth century. A very important source of new silver was discovered in the 960s in Germany. This led to a rapid expansion of the German eTrade ReviewSawyer handles the evidence masterfully and his work is as engaging and thought-provoking as ever. * BBC History Magazine *For nearly fifty years, Professor Sawyer has expounded on the riches of late Anglo-Saxon England ... It is a mark of the quality of Sawyer's scholarship that, nearly half a century later, his central argument not only stands, but has been bolstered. * Alex Burghart, Times Literary Supplement *It is testimony to the strength of Sawyer's original ideas that so much has not only survived decades of research, including his own extensive contributions, but has been corroborated by it. * Scott Ashley, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Tempore Regis Edwardi ; 3. From solidi to sceattas ; 4. The Eighth and Ninth Centuries ; 5. From Edward the Elder to Edward the Confessor ; 6. 'Whoever has cash can acquire anything he wants' ; Appendix: Estimating dies, coins, and currency ; References

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive study of all the plantations that were attempted in Ireland during the years 1580-1650. It examines the arguments advanced by successive political figures for a plantation policy, and the responses which this policy elicited from different segments of the population in Ireland. The book opens with an analysis of the complete works of Edmund Spenser who was the most articulate ideologue for plantation. The author argues that all subsequent advocates of plantation, ranging from King James VI and I, to Strafford, to Oliver Cromwell, were guided by Spenser''s opinions, and that discrepancies between plantation in theory and practice were measured against this yardstick. The book culminates with a close analysis of the 1641 insurrection throughout Ireland, which, it is argued, steeled Cromwell to engage in one last effort to make Ireland British.Trade Review... for many years it will be compulsory reading for anyone wishing to understand English colonial policy and its impact on native society. * Wiliam and Mary Quarterly *Canny's knowledge of literary as well as official sources is exemplary. * Wiliam and Mary Quarterly *No other work reveals so much about the transformation of life across the island through the remorseless colonial process that began in Elizabethan times. * Wiliam and Mary Quarterly *Let there be no mistake: Making Ireland British is an extraordinary book, a major feat of scholarship, and probably the single most important study of early modern Ireland to appear for a generation or more. * Wiliam and Mary Quarterly *wonderful work, richly layered and contextualised ... a masterly study and an unmitigated triumph ... a masterpiece of painstaking research ... [a] splendid volume. * History Today *Table of Contents1. Spenser Sets the Agenda ; 2. The English Presence in Spenser's Ireland ; 3. The Munster Plantation: Theory and Practice ; 4. Plantation in Ireland 1603-1622: Theory and Practice ; 5. The Politics of Plantation 1622-1641 ; 6. The British Presence in Wentworth's Ireland ; 7. Plantation and Politics: The Irish Response ; 8. The Irish Insurrection of 1641

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Book SynopsisThere is no other published book in English studying the constitution of the Roman Republic as a whole. Yet the Greek historian Polybius believed that the constitution was a fundamental cause of the exponential growth of Rome''s empire. He regarded the Republic as unusual in two respects: first, because it functioned so well despite being a mix of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy; secondly, because the constitution was the product of natural evolution rather than the ideals of a lawgiver. Even if historians now seek more widely for the causes of Rome''s rise to power, the importance and influence of her political institutions remains. The reasons for Rome''s power are both complex, on account of the mix of elements, and flexible, inasmuch as they were not founded on written statutes but on unwritten traditions reinterpreted by successive generations. Knowledge of Rome''s political institutions is essential both for ancient historians and for those who study the contribution of Rome toTrade ReviewThis study remains as important to students of ancient history as to classicists. * Contemporary Review *Table of ContentsI. Introduction ; II. A Roman Political Year ; III. Polybius and the Constitution ; IV. The Story of the Origin of the Constitution ; V. The Assemblies ; VI. The Senate ; VII. The Higher Magistrates and the Pro-Magistrates ; VIII. Tribunes, Aediles, and Minor Magistrates ; IX. Criminal Justice ; X. The Influence of Society and Religion ; XI. The Balance of the Constitution ; XII. The Mixed Constitution and Republican Ideology ; XIII. The Republic Remembered

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Book SynopsisDavid and Mary Norton present the definitive scholarly edition of one of the greatest philosophical works ever written. This first volume contains the critical text of David Hume''s Treatise of Human Nature (1739/40), followed by the short Abstract (1740) in which Hume set out the key arguments of the larger work; the volume concludes with A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend in Edinburgh (1745), Hume''s defence of the Treatise when it was under attack from ministers seeking to prevent Hume''s appointment as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.Trade Review...useful far beyond the small circle of scholarly experts... The Treatise has a fair claim to be the most important and influential philosophical text ever written in English... After more than 250 years, Hume is still at the front line of philosophical inquiry... This edition belongs in any university or college library anywhere in the world, and its publication will certainly excite more than a murmur among philosophers and scholars. * Robert Callergård, Theoria *Table of ContentsA Note on the Texts ; Contents of A Treatise of Human Nature ; A TREATISE OF HUMAN NATURE ; An Abstract of ... A Treatise of Human Nature ; A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend in Edinburgh

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Book SynopsisOne of the largest states in Europe and the greatest of the Protestant powers, Denmark in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was at the height of its influence. Embracing Norway, Iceland, portions of southern Sweden and northern Germany, the Danish monarchy dominated the vital Baltic trade. However, its geopolitical importance far exceeded its modest resources. Paul Douglas Lockhart examines the short and perhaps unlikely career of Denmark as the major power of northern Europe, exploring its rise to the forefront of European affairs and its subsequent decline in fortunes following its disastrous involvement in the Thirty Years'' War. Using the latest research from Danish and other Scandinavian scholars Lockhart focuses on key issues, from the dynamic role of the Oldenburg monarchy in bringing about Denmark''s ''European integration'', to the impact of the Protestant Reformation on Danish culture. The multi-national character of the Danish monarchy is explored in-depth, in particulTrade ReviewLockhart's book is based on a superb knowledge of Danish research. His work is empirical and analytical at a very high level.... Lockhart has written by far the best introduction in any language to the history of early modern Denmark. * Steffen Heiberg, The International History Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; PART I - THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSENSUAL STATE, 1513-96 ; 1. The End of the Medieval Monarchy, 1513-36 ; 2. The Rebirth of the Oldenburg Monarchy, 1536-96 ; 3. Reformation and Culture ; 4. Commerce, Rural Economy, and the Structure of Society ; 5. The Mistress of the Sound: Denmark and Europe, 1513-96 ; PART II - THE AGE OF CHRISTIAN IV, 1596-1660 ; 6. The Activist Monarchy of Christian IV ; 7. Baltic and German Hegemonies: Denmark and Europe, 1596-1629 ; 8. Church and Court: Culture in the Age of Christian IV ; 9. The Death of Government by Consensus, 1630-48 ; 10. State and Society, Centre and Periphery ; 11. War and Absolutism, 1648-60 ; 12. Epilogue ; Glossary ; Bibliographic Essay

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Book SynopsisThe image of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square is a familiar Russian landmark. Saints such as Basil overturn the conventional concept of sainthood - what is saintly about them? This book aims to solve the mystery by exploring the figure of the holy fool in Byzantium and in later Russian history.Trade ReviewIvanov shows himself to be keenly attuned to all the main questions presented by the phenomenon of holy folly, as well as thedecisive role of the hagiographer...he always manages to add something new, to say something fresh...Still, this book is a gift. Throughly researched, well documented, chock-full of insights- and, one should add, exquisitely translated-it is the best exsisting monograph on the subject. * Peter C. Bouteneff Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies *A rich and fascinating book * Averil Cameron, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *Ivanov's volume remains indispensible * Philip Gorski, Sobornost *...fascinating historical study. * Hugh Wybrew, TLS *Sergey Ivanov's wide-ranging study... is a welcome new addition to the recently launched series Oxford Studies in Byzantium * SEER *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Precursors and Emergence of Holy Foolery ; 2. Early Holy Foolery ; 3. The Golden Age of Holy Foolery ; 4. The Decline of Byzantine Holy Foolery ; 5. Holy Foolery's Eastern Periphery ; 6. Holy Foolery's Western Periphery ; 7. Old Russian Iurodstvo ; 8. The Iurodivyi and the Tsar ; 9. Iurodstvo in Transition ; 10. Iurodstvo Meets Modernity

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Book SynopsisSince the Anglo-Norman period itself, the relations beween the English and the Normans have formed a subject of lively debate. For most of that time, however, complacency about the inevitability of assimilation and of the Anglicization of Normans after 1066 has ruled. This book first challenges that complacency, then goes on to provide the fullest explanation yet for why the two peoples merged and the Normans became English. Drawing on anthropological theory, the latest scholarship on Anglo-Norman England, and sources ranging from charters and legal documents to saints'' lives and romances, it provides a complex exploration of ethnic relations on the levels of personal interaction, cultural assimilation, and the construction of identity. As a result, the work provides an important case study in pre-modern ethnic relations that combines both old and new approaches, and sheds new light on some of the most important developments in English history.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition Hugh Thomas has written a challenging and rewarding book on a fascinating subject ... Thomas has put us all deeply in his debt even where we disagree with him and his assumptions. His book will henceforth be the starting point for discussions of this fascinating topic. * English Historical Review *It is to Thomas's credit that many of his investigations are entirely new ... and that he never allows theory to get in the way of good solid fact. His book will interest anyone who wishes to probe beneath the surface of national identity. * History Today *... a thoughtful and in many ways thought-provoking survey of the intermingling of peoples, cultures and self-perceptions that resulted from the Conquest of 1066. * History Today *an extraordinary knowledge of sources ... from which telling anecdotes are lifted * George Garnett, TLS *Table of ContentsPART I: THEORY AND BACKGROUND ; 1. Introduction ; 2. English Identity before the Norman Conquest ; 3. Normanitas ; 4. Ethnic Identity and Cultural Difference ; 5. A Chronology of Assimilation ; 6. A Chronology of Identity ; 7. Ideology, Prejudice, and Assimilation ; PART II: PERSONAL INTERACTION, ASSIMILATION, AND IDENTITY ; 8. The Interaction of English and Normans: Methodological Considerations ; 9. The Aristocracy ; 10. English Women and Norman Men ; 11. The Peasants and the Middling Sort ; 12. Townspeople ; 13. The Religious ; Epilogue to Part II ; PART III: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH IDENTITY ; 14. The Defence of English Honour ; 15. The Image of England and a Sense of Place ; 16. Royal Government, England, and Englishness ; 17. The English Church, English Saints, England, and the English ; 18. Stereotypes and the Image of the English ; 19. The Image of the Other ; 20. The Intensification and Politicization of English Identity ; PART IV: IDENTITY AND CULTURE ; 21. History and Identity ; 22. High Culture, Religious Culture, and Ethnicity ; 23. Language, Literature, and Ethnic Identity ; Conclusion ; Appendices ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisJonathan Israel presents the first major reassessment of the Western Enlightenment for a generation. Continuing the story he began in the best-selling Radical Enlightenment, and now focusing his attention on the first half of the eighteenth century, he returns to the original sources to offer a groundbreaking new perspective on the nature and development of the most important currents in modern thought. Israel traces many of the core principles of Western modernity to their roots in the social, political, and philosophical ferment of this period: the primacy of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression. He emphasizes the dual character of the Enlightenment, and the bitter struggle between on the one hand a generally dominant, anti-democratic mainstream, supporting the monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical authority, and on the other a largely repressed democratic, republican, and ''materialist'' radical fringTrade ReviewThe core ideas of this book deserve to be widely disseminated and debated.Review from previous edition Enter Jonathan Israel. His vast - and vastly impressive - book sets out to redefine the intellectual landscape of early modern Europe. The stupendous scale of this book ranges from London to Moscow, Stockholm to Naples, in a virtuoso display of polyglot learning . . . Magnificent and magisterial, Radical Enlightenment will undoubtedly be one of the truly great historical works of the decade. * John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph *There is much to praise in Israel's majestic account of the Enlightenment and his detective work in placing Spinoza at the heart of it. * A.C. Grayling, FT Weekend *The scholarship is breathtaking. Israel has read everything, absorbed every nuance, followed up every byway ... Five years from now, our views of the Enlightenment will have been enormously influenced by Israel. * Peter Watson, New Statesman *Deserves to be widely read because it is an example of ground-breaking vastly well-informed and thoroughly new history * David Horspool, The Guardian *Table of ContentsI: INTRODUCTORY ; 1. Early Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Modern Age ; 2. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity ; II: THE CRISIS OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY ; 3. Faith and Reason: Bayle versus the Rationaux ; 4. Demolishing Priesthood, Ancient and Modern ; 5. Socinianism and the Social, Psychological, and Cultural Roots of Enlightenment ; 6. Locke, Bayle, and Spinoza: A Contest of Three Toleration Doctrines ; 7. Germany and the Baltic: Enlightenment, Society, and the Universities ; 8. Newtonianism and Anti-Newtonianism in the Early Enlightenment: Science, Philosophy, and Religion ; III: POLITICAL EMANCIPATION ; 9. Anit-Hobbesianism and the Making of 'Modernity' ; 10. The Origins of Modern Democratic Republicanism ; 11. Bayle, Boulainvilliers, Montesquieu: Secular Monarchy versus the Aristocratic Republic ; 12. 'Enlightened Despotism': Autocracy, Faith, and Enlightenment in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe 1689-1755 ; 13. Popular Sovereignty, Resistance, and the 'Right to Revolution' ; 14. Anglomania, anglicisme, and the 'British Model' ; 15. The Triumph of the 'Moderate Enlightenment' in the United Provinces ; IV: INTELLECTUAL EMANCIPATION ; 16. The Overthrow of Humanist Criticism ; 17. The Recovery of Greek Thought ; 18. The Rise of 'History of Philosophy' ; 19. From 'History of Philosophy' to Histoire de l'Esprit humain ; 20. Italy, the Two Enlightenments, and Vico's 'New Science' ; V: THE PARTY OF HUMANITY ; 21. The Problem of Equality ; 22. Sex, Marriage, and the Equality of Women ; 23. Race, Radical Thought, and the Advent of Anti-Colonialism ; 24. Rethinking Islam: Philosophy and the 'Other' ; 25. Spinoza, Confucius, and Classical Chinese Philosophy ; 26. Is Religion Requisite for a Well-Ordered Society? ; VI: RADICAL PHILOSOPHES ; 27. The French Enlightenment prior to Voltaire's Lettres Philosophiques (1734) ; 28. Men, Animals, Fossils: French Hylozoic materialisme before Diderot ; 29. Realigning of the parti philosophique: Voltair, Voltairemanie, antivoltairianisme 1733-1747 ; 30. From Voltaire to Diderot ; 31. The 'Unvirtuous Atheist' ; 32. The parti philosophique Embraces the Radical Enlightenment 1747-1752 ; 33. The 'War of the Encyclopedie: The First Stage 1745-1752 ; 34. Postscript ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe Weimar Republic was born out of Germany''s defeat in the First World War and ended with the coming to power of Hitler and his Nazi Party in 1933. In many ways, it is a wonder that Weimar lasted as long as it did. Besieged from the outset by hostile forces, the young republic was threatened by revolution from the left and coups d''états from the right. Plagued early on by a wave of high-profile political assassinations and a period of devastating hyper-inflation, its later years were dominated by the onset of the Great Depression. And yet, for a period from the mid-1920s it looked as if the Weimar system would not only survive but even flourish, with the return of economic stability and the gradual reintegration of the country into the international community. With contributions from an international team of ten experts, this volume in the Short Oxford History of Germany series offers an ideal introduction to Weimar Germany, challenging the reader to rethink preconceived ideas of thTrade ReviewWeimar Germany encapsulates the history of the period through a collection of essays... [which] provide much material for discussion. * Paul Bookbinder, European History Quarterly. *highly recommended as an introduction to the topic * Andreas Wirsching, German Historical Institute London Bulletin *provides an excellent introudction to new work and new approaches to the Weimar Republic ... this is a stimulating and accessibly volume which will inform and enliven dicussion of the Republic and its problems in an admirable way. * Jonathan Wright, English Historical Review *Like the other short histories of Germany, this is an excellently accessible work that nevertheless introduces students to up-to-date scholarly debates. * Jeff Bowersox, University of Worcester *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Political Culture ; 2. Foreign Policy ; 3. The Reichswehr and the Weimar Republic ; 4. The Weimar Economy ; 5. The 'Urban Republic' ; 6. Women and the Politics of Gender ; 7. The Weimar Welfare System ; 8. 'Neues Wohnen': Housing and Reform ; 9. Weimar Jewry ; 10. High Brow and Low Brow Culture ; Further Reading ; Chronology

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Book SynopsisG. R. Searle''s absorbing narrative history breaks conventional chronological barriers to carry the reader from England in 1886, the apogee of the Victorian era with the nation poised to celebrate the empress queen''s golden jubilee, to 1918, as the ''war to end all wars'' drew to a close leaving England to come to term with its price - above all in terms of human life, but also in the general sense that things would never be the same again. This was an age of extremes: a period of imperial pomp and circumstance, with a political elite preoccupied with display and ceremony, alongside the growing cult of the simple life; the zenith of imperialism with its idealization of war on the one hand, the start of the Labour Party, a socialist renaissance, and welfare politics on the other; and a radical challenging of traditional gender stereotypes in the face of the prevailing cult of masculinity. Under Professor Searle''s historical microscope, all the details of daily life spring into sharp rTrade ReviewReview from previous edition This book deserves to become a standard work. It is reliable, lucid, even-handed and up-to-date...Nowhere has Edwardian social history been so revealingly synthesised. * The Spectator *A masterful, lucidly written and well proportioned survey over the whole range of national life. * Paul Smith, Times Literary Supplement *This is a marvellous book in its breadth, its comprehensiveness and, given its length, the enormous pleasure it has been to read. Necessarily a work of synthesis, it efficiently weaves together telling quotes, examples and statistics to conjure up the late Victorian and Edwardian world. * Peter Catterall, History Today *Table of ContentsPART I. ENGLAND IN 1886 ; PART II. LATE VICTORIAN ENGLAND 1886-1899 ; PART III. EDWARDIAN ENGLAND ; PART IV. LEISURE, CULTURE, AND SCIENCE ; PART V. THE GREAT WAR

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Book SynopsisEvagrius of Pontus (c.345-399) was one of the most prominent figures among the monks of the desert settlements of Nitria, Sketis, and Kellia in Lower Egypt. Through the course of his ascetic writings he formulated a systematic presentation of the teaching of the semi-eremitic monks of these settlements. The works of Evagrius had a profound influence on Eastern Orthodox monastic teaching and passed to the West through the writings of John Cassian (c.365-435). This is the first complete English translation of Evagrius'' Greek ascetic writings, based on modern critical editions, where available, and, where they are not, on collations of the principal manuscripts. Two appendices provide variant readings for the Greek texts and the complete text of the long recension of Eulogios. The translations are accompanied by a commentary to guide the reader through the intricacies of Evagrian thought by offering explanatory comments and references to other Evagrian texts and relevant scholarly literaTrade ReviewRobert Sinkewicz here offers a valuable aid to this renewed attention to one of the most important spiritual and ascetic Eastern writers ... This work is sure to become a familiar and well-used resource for the study of eastern spirituality. * John Behr, St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Foundations of the Monastic Life: A Presentation of the Practice of Stillness ; 2. To Eulogios On the Confession of Thoughts and Counsel in their Regard ; 3. [To Eulogios] On the Vices Opposed to the Virtues ; 4. On the Eight Thoughts ; 5. The Monk: A Treatise on the Practical Life ; 6. To Monks in Monasteries and Communities and Exhortation to a Virgin ; 7. On Thoughts ; 8. Chapters on Prayer ; 9. Reflections ; 10. Exhortations 1-2 ; 11. Thirty-Three Ordered Chapters ; 12. Maxims 1-3 ; Commentary Notes ; Appendix I: Variant Readings for the Greek texts ; Appendix 2: The Greek text of Eulogios

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Book SynopsisThe Greek Wars treats of the whole course of Persian relations with the Greeks from the coming of Cyrus in the 540s down to Alexander the Great''s defeat of Darius III in 331 BC. Cawkwell discusses from a Persian perspective major questions such as why Xerxes'' invasion of Greece failed, and how important a part the Great King played in Greek affairs in the fourth century. Cawkwell''s views are at many points original: in particular, his explanation of how and why the Persian invasion of Greece failed challenges the prevailing orthodoxy, as does his view of the importance of Persia in Greek affairs for the two decades after the King''s Peace. Persia, he concludes, was destroyed by Macedonian military might but moral decline had no part in it; the Macedonians who had subjected Greece were too good an army, but their victory was not easy.Trade ReviewA thorough reassessment of traditionally held beliefs about Greek-Persian relations...This work joins the serious works on Achaemenid history that scholars must consult * Matthew Walters, Journal of the American Oriental Society *a new book by one of the great figures of Greek history of the last half-century ... is not only highly readable but also provides bracing insights to any number of questions in Greek-Persian relations * Thomas Harrison, Greece and Rome *...revisionist history at its very best...the most insightful and comprehensive analysis to date of Greek and Persian interaction * John Marincola, Classical Journal *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. The subjection of the Greeks of Asia ; 3. 'The lands beyond the sea' ; 4. The Ionian Revolt ; 5. The conquest of Greece ; 6. The war in the East Aegean ; 7. Peace with Athens, 449-412 BC ; 8. The recovery of the Greeks of Asia ; 9. From the King's Peace to the end of the Social War ; 10. The end of the Achaemenids

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Table of ContentsList of maps ; Preface to the Third Edition ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction: Why the Middle Ages Matter ; Part One: The Early Middle Ages: The Third through Ninth Centuries ; 1. The Roman World at its Height ; The Geography Of Empire ; The Role Of The Military ; Roman Society ; Roman Government ; The Challenges of The Third Century ; Reform, Recovery, Persecution, and Favor ; Suggested Reading ; 2. The Rise of Christianity ; Before Christ ; The Growth of the New Religion ; The Problem of Persecution ; The Problem of Heresy ; Constantine and Theodosius: An Imperial Church ; Responses to Imperialization ; Suggested Reading ; 3. Early Germanic Society ; Germanic Life ; Migrations And Invasions ; Europe's First Kingdoms ; Germanic Christianity And The Fourth "Doctor Of The Church" ; Suggested Reading ; 4. Cloister and Culture ; The Rise Of Monasticism In The East ; The Rise Of Monasticism In The West ; Cultural Life in The West: Cassiodorus, Boethius, And St. Benedict ; Suggested Reading ; 5. The Emergence of the Medieval Worlds ; Continuity and Change in Northern Europe ; Continuity and Change in the Mediterranean ; The Rise of Islam ; A Tripartite World ; Suggested Reading ; 6. The Carolingian Era ; The "Do-Nothing" Kings and the Rise of the Carolingians ; The Carolingian Monarchy ; Carolingian Administration ; Carolingian Society ; The Carolingian Cultural Renewal ; Suggested Reading ; Part Two: The Central Middle Ages: The Tenth through Twelfth Centuries ; 7. The Time of Troubles ; Trouble From Within ; Trouble From The North ; Trouble From The East ; Trouble From The South ; The End Of The World? ; Suggested Reading ; 8. Revolutions on Land and Sea ; Changes on The Land ; A Peasant Society Emerges ; Changes on The Sea ; a maritime society emerges ; suggested reading ; 9. A New Europe Emerges: North and South ; The Rise of Feudal Society ; The First German Empire ; The Rise of Capetian France ; The Anglo-Norman Realm ; The Spanish Kingdoms ; The Italian Scene ; Suggested Reading ; 10. The Reform Of The Church ; The Origins Of The Reform ; The Papal Revolution ; Christendom And The East ; Monastic Reforms ; Suggested Reading ; 11. The Renaissances of the Twelfth Century ; Aristotle, Anselm, Abelard, And Ibn Rushd ; Law And Canon Law ; The Recovery Of Science ; The Rise Of The Universities ; Courtly Life, Love, And Literature ; Suggested Reading ; 12. The Papal Monarchy ; Church Against State Once More ; The Consolidation Of Papal Authority ; The Revival Of Heresy ; The Albigensian Crusade And The Origins Of The Inquisition ; Suggested Reading ; Part Three: The Late Middle Ages: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries ; 13. Politics in the Thirteenth Century ; The Rise Of Representative Institutions ; England And France ; Germany, Italy, And The Papacy ; The New Mediterranean Superpowers ; Byzantium and Islam in the Thirteenth Century ; Suggested Reading ; 14. Art and Intellect in the Thirteenth Century ; Scholasticism ; From Romanesque to Gothic Vision ; Science And Technology ; Aspects of Popular Culture ; Suggested Reading ; 15. Daily Life at the Medieval Zenith ; Economic Changes ; Peasants' Lives ; Townsfolks' Lives ; The Question of Literacy ; Sex and the City (and the Town, and the Village) ; Suggesting Reading ; 16. Changes in Religious Life ; The Importance Of Being Penitent ; The Importance Of Being Poor ; The Humanization of Christ and the Cult of the Virgin ; Mysticism ; Suggested Reading ; 17. The Crises of the Fourteenth Century ; Economic Difficulties ; The Great Famine ; The Black Death ; War Everywhere ; Challenges To Church Unity ; Suggested Reading ; 18. Signs of a New Era ; William of Ockham ; Marsilius of Padua ; Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer ; Christine de Pizan ; Suggested Reading ; Part Four: Two Epilogues ; 19. Closings In, Closings Out ; The Last Years of Byzantium ; The Search for a New Route to the East ; Closing In on Muslim Spain ; The Expulsions of the Jews ; Closing In Forever: The Forced Cloistering of Women Religious ; Suggested Reading ; 20. The Renaissance In Medieval Context ; Economies New and Old circa 1400 ; The Meaning of Humanism ; The Canonization of Classical Culture ; The Rejection of the Middle Ages ; Suggested Reading ; Appendix A: The Medieval Popes ; Appendix B: The Carolingians ; Appendix C: The Capetians ; Appendix C: France: The Valois ; Appendix E: England: The Norman and Plantagenet Dynasties ; Appendix F: England: The Lancastrian and Yorkist Dynasties ; Appendix G: Germany: The Ottonian, Salian, and Hohenstaufen Dynasties ; Appendix H: Germany: The Late Medieval Emperors ; Appendix I: The Spanish Kingdoms, 1000-1250 ; Appendix J: The Spanish Kingdoms, 1250-1500 ; Appendix K: The Emperors in Constantinople ; Glossary ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe first study of the everydayness of political life under Stalin, this book examines Soviet citizenship through common practices of expressing Soviet identity in the public space. The Stalinist state understood citizenship as practice, with participation in a set of political rituals and public display of certain civic emotions serving as the marker of a person''s inclusion in the political world. The state''s relations with its citizens were structured by rituals of celebration, thanking, and hatred-rites that required both political awareness and a demonstrable emotional response. Soviet functionaries transmitted this obligation to ordinary citizens through the mechanisms of communal authority (workplace committees, volunteer agitators, and other forms of peer pressure) as much as through brutal state coercion. Yet, the population also often imbued these ceremonies-elections, state holidays, parades, mass rallies, subscriptions to state bonds-with different meanings: as a popular fTrade ReviewIn this imaginative and meticulously documented study, Serhy Yekelchyk describes the world of 'civic emotions' in postwar Kyiv, in the process opening a window onto the lived experience of ordinary citizens. Written by one of North America's premier historians of modern Ukraine and the Soviet Union, this book makes a signal contribution to the historiography on late Stalinism as well as serving as a pioneering work on Soviet citizenship and the often all-encompassing world of public space and ritual within the Soviet Union. * Lynne Viola, author of The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin's Special Settlements *Stalin's Citizens presents a fascinating analysis of the public lives of ordinary men and women under Stalin. Serhy Yekelchyk's close examination of government ceremonies and public events reveals the communal fabric of Soviet society which amalgamated the political and the personal. * Hiroaki Kuromiya, author of Voices of the Dead: Stalin's Great Terror in Ukraine *Using postwar Kyiv as his setting and privileging everyday practices of expressing Soviet identity rather than state policies, Serhy Yekelchyk makes discriminating use of the archival and published sources to detail and thereby reveal the performative essence and symbolic meaning of Stalinist citizenship. A work of profound insight and sophistication, yet accessible and always engaging, Stalin's Citizens is certain to generate spirited discussion and become required reading for anyone interested in understanding the Soviet way of life in the wake of total war. * Donald J. Raleigh, author of Soviet Baby Boomers: An Oral History of Russia's Cold War Generation *Stalin's Citizens reaffirms Serhy Yekelchyk's reputation as one of the leading specialists on Ukraine under Stalin. His study of Soviet elections, holiday celebrations, Communist Party agitators and their campaigns joins a growing literature that explores the practice of politics and citizenship in authoritarian states, and highlights the role of public participation in rituals and the articulation of 'civic emotions.' It also challenges the emerging scholarship on 'Soviet subjectivities.' Stalin's Citizens is based on extensive work in still little researched archives in Ukraine. * Mark von Hagen, Arizona State University *Both these very successful and enjoyable books deserve a wide readership among specialists in Soviet and post-1945 European history. Their fluent and accessible presentation, combined with the interesting questions they raise and the engaging material they deploy, make them very suitable too for students on higher-level courses. * Mark B. Smith, Slavonic and East European Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: The Civic Duty to Hate ; Chapter 2: Stalinism as Celebration ; Chapter 3: A Refresher Course in Sovietness ; Chapter 4: The Toilers' Patriotic Duty ; Chapter 5: Comrade Agitator ; Chapter 6: Election Day ; Epilogue ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisA New History of Ireland is the largest scholarly project in modern Irish history. In 9 volumes, it provides a comprehensive new synthesis of modern scholarship on every aspect of Irish history and prehistory, from the earliest geological and archaeological evidence, through the Middle Ages, down to the present day. Volume II opens with a character study of medieval Ireland and a panoramic view of the country c.1169, followed by nineteen chapters of narrative history, with a survey of `Land and People, c.1300''. There are further chapters on Gaelic and colonial society, economy and trade, literature in Irish, French, and English, architecture and sculpture, manuscripts and illuminations, and coinage.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition ' No short review could do justice to the magnificent second volume of The New History Of Ireland." * Scottish Historical Review *'...an admirable book, generous in scope and unfailingly interpretations.' * English Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Trembling Sod: Ireland in 1169 ; 2. Diarmit Mac Murchada and the Coming of the Anglo-Normans ; 3. Allies and an Overlord, 1169-72 ; 4. Overlord Becomes Feudal Lord ; 5. John, Lord of Ireland, 1185-1216 ; 6. The Expansion and Consolidation of the Colony, 1265-54 ; 7. The Years of Crisis, 1254-1315 ; 8. Land and People, c.1300 ; 9. A Land of War ; 10. The Impact of the Bruce Invasion, 1315-27 ; 11. Approaches to the History of Fourteenth-Century Ireland ; 12. Gaelic Polity and Cultural Identity ; 13. The Anglo-Irish Colony Under Strain, 1327-99 ; 14. Gaelic Society and Economy ; 15. Colonial Society and Economy ; 16. Overseas Trade ; 17. England and Ireland, 1399-1447 ; 18. The Emergence of the Pale, 1399-1447 ; 19. Anglo-Ireland and the Yorkist Cause, 147-60 ; 20. Ireland Beyond the Pale, 1399-1460 ; 21. Aristocratic Autonomy, 1460-94 ; 22. 'Irish' Ireland and 'English' Ireland ; 23. The Hegemony of the Earls of Kildare ; 24. The Reemergence of English Policy as a Major Factor in Irish Affairs, 1520-34 ; 25. Literature in Irish, 1169-1534 ; 26. Literature in Norman French and English to 1534 ; 27. Architecture and Sculpture, 1169-1603 ; 28. Manuscripts and Illuminations, 1169-1603 ; 29. Coinage, to 1534: The Sign of the Times ; Bibliography ; Bibliographical Supplement ; Index

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Book SynopsisA unique evocation of Britain at the height of Margaret Thatcher''s rule, A Journey Through Ruins views the transformation of the country through the unexpected prism of every day life in East London.Written at a time when the looming but still unfinished tower of Canary Wharf was still wrapped in protective blue plastic, its cast of characters includes council tenants trapped in disintegrating tower blocks, depressed gentrifiers worrying about negative equity, metal detectorists, sharp-eyed estate agents and management consultants, and even Prince Charles. Cutting through the teeming surface of London, it investigates a number of wider themes: the rise and dramatic fall of council housing, the coming of privatization, the changing memory of the Second World War, once used to justify post-war urban development and reform but now seen as a sacrifice betrayed. Written half a century after the blitz, the book reviews the rise and fall of the London of the post-war settlement. It remains Trade ReviewThe chapter on the national trust is among the best and most original writing...I've ever read. * Vera Rule, The Guardian *Table of ContentsGoing Back to Dalston: Preface to the Oxford Edition ; PART ONE: THE UNDEMOLISHED WORLD OF DALSTON LANE ; 1. Street-Corner Vision ; 2. Around the World in Three Hundred Yards ; 3. All Cats are Grey by Night ; 4. Down in the Dirt ; 5. Dalston Lane Becomes a Downland Track ; PART TWO: BRIDESHEAD AND THE TOWER BLOCKS ; 6. Brideshead Relocated ; 7. Abysmal Heights ; 8. Rodinsky's Place ; 9. An Unexpected Reprieve ; PART THREE: SCENES FROM THE PRIVATIZED CITY ; 10. The London Bus Queue Falls Apart ; 11. The Vandalized Telephone Box ; 12. The Man with a Metal Detector ; 13. Drinking Water in a Toxic State ; PART FOUR: TALES OF CONVERSION ; 14. The Park that Lost its Name ; 15. Remembering London's War ; 16. The Bow Quarter: Six Hundred and Seventy Luxury Flats in an Old Victorian Hell-House ; PART FIVE: VISIONS OF THE NEW DAWN ; 17. Excellence: From Fifth Avenue to Hackney Town Hall ; 18. Refounding the City with Prince Charles ; AFTERWARDS... ; 19. Down Among the Gentrifiers ; 20. A Night to Remember ; 21. Brick Lane's Day of Killing ; 22. Don Giovanni (and Business Planning) Come to the Hackney Empire ; 23. Siraj Izhar's public lavatory ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisWilliam Petty (1623-1687) was a key figure in the English colonization of Ireland, the institutionalization of experimental natural philosophy, and the creation of social science. Examining Petty''s intellectual development and his invention of ''political arithmetic'' against the backdrop of the European scientific revolution and the political upheavals of Interregnum and Restoration England and Ireland, this book provides the first comprehensive intellectual biography of Petty based on a thorough examination not only of printed sources but also of Petty''s extensive archive and pattern of manuscript circulation. It is also the first fully contextualized study of what political arithmetic - widely seen as an ancestor of modern social and economic analysis - was originally intended to do.Ted McCormick traces Petty''s education among French Jesuits and Dutch Cartesians, his early work with the ''Hartlib Circle'' of Baconian natural philosophers, inventors, and reformers in England, his Trade ReviewWell written, often displaying an enviable turn of phrase and an eye for telling quotations from original sources...gives us a new way of looking at Petty and is likely to stimulate fresh thought about the ideas of his period more generally. * Michael Hunter, American Historical Review *[An] excellent biography of William Petty * Edward Higgs, Economic History Review *[A] fine book...one of the most original and illuminating publications on the histories of both thought and Ireland in many years. * Toby Barnard, Irish Studies Review *[a] fine intellectual biography * Steven Shapin, London Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction: William Petty and Political Arithmetic ; 1. From Romsey to Paris ; 2. The Making of a Virtuoso ; 3. Surveying Ireland ; 4. Science and Policy in the Restoration ; 5. The Transmutation of the Irish ; 6. Corpuscles, Colonies, and Kingdoms ; 7. Political Arithmetic in Circulation ; 8. Death and Afterlife ; Conclusion: From Political Arithmetic to Political Economy ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe Holocaust is frequently depicted in isolation by its historians. Some of them believe that to place it in any kind of comparative context risks diminishing its uniqueness and even detracts from the enormity of the Nazi crime. In reality, such a restricted understanding of ''uniqueness'' has pulled the Holocaust apart from history and set up barriers to a better understanding of the racial onslaught unleashed within the Third Reich and its conquered territories.Working against the grain of much earlier writing, this innovative new history combines a detailed re-appraisal of the development of the genocide of the Jews, a full consideration of Nazi policies against other population groups, and a comparative analysis of other modern genocides. The Holocaust is portrayed as the culmination of a much wider history of European genocide and ethnic cleansing, from the late nineteenth century onwards. Ultimately, Bloxham shows that an explanation for the Holocaust rooted exclusively in NazisTrade ReviewAn ambitious book that forces a dramtic shift in our perceptions of the Holocaust...a dense, thoughtful book that challenges the reader on virtually every page. * Stephen G. Fritz, Central European History *This is a challenging book with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the Holocaust and its place in the history of the twentieth century. * Larry Eugene Jones, English Historical Review *Genuinely illuminating * Mark Mazower, Times Literary Supplement *A challenging book with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the Holocaust and its place in the history of the twentieth century. * Larry Eugene Jones, English Historical Review *...sophisticated... * David Cesarani, History Today *[A] provocative and essential study of the Nazi genocide. * Jewish Book World *Bloxham does a great job [of] relating the mass murder of people with disabilities, Soviet POWs, Roma, Polish elites, and Serbs to that of Jews... Eloquently written and well argued, The Final Solution: A Genocide offers fresh perspective on the Nazi genocide whose extreme nature had unduly stalled the historical analysis. A masterful attempt at contextualization, Bloxham's book should be on a list of required reading for any university course on genocide/mass violence. * Anton Weiss-Wendt, Golokost i Suchstnist *Table of ContentsPART I: A EUROPEAN HISTORY OF VIOLENCE ; PART II: NAZISM AND THE FINAL SOLUTION ; PART III: PERPETRATORS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT ; PART IV: CIVILIZATION AND THE HOLOCAUST

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Book SynopsisByrhtferth of Ramsey was one of the most learned scholars of late Anglo-Saxon England, and his two saints' Lives-of Oswald, a powerful bishop of Worcester and York in the tenth century, and Ecgwine, the seventh-century founder of Evesham-are among the most important historical sources for our understanding of late Anglo-Saxon England.Trade Reviewa pearl of this edition is its huge introduction, which reaches upward of 100 pages and leaves no stone unturned. * Scott DeGregorio, Journal of Medieval Latin *Lapidge deserves sincere gratitude for rescuing Byrhtferth from his medieval and modern editors ... Both edition and translation are exemplary * Thomas Pickes, The English Historical Review *extraordinary ... Lapidge's utter familiarity with Byrhtferth's authorship and Latinity gives him an almost instinctual ability to make decisions that always bring the reader closer the Byrhtferth ... The book is in every way carefully and elefantly produced. * Martin Chase, Notes and Queries *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Ramsey in the time of Byrhtferth ; 2. The Writings of Byrhtferth ; 3. Byrhtferth's Latinity ; 4. The Vita S. Oswaldi ; 5. The Vita S. Ecgwini ; 6. The Manuscript ; 7. Previous Editions ; 8. Editorial Procedures ; Vita S. Oswaldi ; Vita S. Ecgwini ; Appendix: Glosses to Byrhtferth's Vitae in London, British Library, Cotton Nero E. I ; Bibliography ; Index of Quotations and Illusions ; General Index

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Book SynopsisThe Reformation was about ideas and power, but it was also about real human lives. Alec Ryrie provides the first comprehensive account of what it actually meant to live a Protestant life in England and Scotland between c. 1530-1640, drawing on a rich mixture of contemporary devotional works, sermons, diaries, biographies, and autobiographies to uncover the lived experience of early modern Protestantism. Beginning from the surprisingly urgent, multifaceted emotions of Protestantism, Ryrie explores practices of prayer, of family and public worship, and of reading and writing, tracking them through the life course from childhood through conversion and vocation to the deathbed. He examines what Protestant piety drew from its Catholic predecessors and contemporaries, and grounds that piety in material realities such as posture, food and tears. This perspective shows us what it meant to be Protestant in the British Reformations: a meeting of intensity (a religion which sought authentic feeliTrade Review...this is an immensely rewarding book...No book has ever brought early modern Protestantism to life so vividly, so eloquently and so movingly. * The Times Literary Supplement *Shifting the gaze from doctrine to devotion, Alec Ryrie one of the foremost historians of Britains Reformations presents us with a staggering piece of scholarship for which the term essential reading is redundant. * Adam Morton, Church Times *An important book that reflects a change of register and a shift in the tempo of Reformation studies ... a book full of riches, elegantly writter, alive with insight, quiet erudition and compassionate humour ... Being Protestant in Reformation Britain has brought to life a whole way of being. Its subjects might even feel that for once someone has done justice to their fervently held convictions and the meaning of their lives. * Lucy Wooding, Times Higher Education *Ryrie's book represents a monumental achievement. * Church of England Newspaper *This is a book of considerable achievement and many delights; a meticulously researched work, which provides a deep insight into the religious community in Britain from the early years of the Reformation up to the beginning of the English Civil War ... This is an important, landmark book in Reformation studies. * Anne Dillon, The Tablet *lively and readable... It sketches an evocative, richly textured and sympathetic portrait of the lived experience of people who embraced the reformed religion in sixteenth- and seventeenthcentury Britain, providing us with many fresh insights into a religious culture whose hallmark was a restless intensity and dynamism designed to fend off hypocrisy, stagnation and idleness. * Alexandra Walsham, English Historical Review, *This is an extremely enjoyable book and an important one. Throughout, Ryrie is engaging, employing an easy conversational tone and supplying rich detail. As a result, this work should be just as accessible to students interested in religious history as it is to experts in the field. It will be valuable in teaching upper-level undergraduate courses and in graduate courses, and should be included on the reading lists of anyone wishing to specialize in early modern European religious history. * Susan M. Cogan, Huntington Library Quarterly *I unhesitatingly welcome this book ... I recommend [it] to all those who wish to understand how the astonishing dynamism of Protestantism influenced the day to day living of men, women, and children in this island. * Alan Argent, Congregational History Society *This is a compelling book ... It leads us to empathise with the intensity with which his protagonists experienced their religion; to sympathise with their restless quest for assurance; and to return with new interest to old questions about the importance of this dynamic faith in reshaping the early modern world. * Felicity Heal, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *This book provides a comprehensive and incisive account of what it meant to lead a Protestant life in the century after the break with Rome ... Ryrie's work will certainly establish its position as a highly significant contribution to Reformation studies; this is a physically and intellectually substantial volume, constructed around a careful dialogue with a range of voices, which answers that critical question of how 'being Protestant' was a significant part of the making of the Reformation. * Helen Parish, History *Table of ContentsPART I: THE PROTESTANT EMOTIONS; PART II: THE PROTESTANT AT PRAYER; PART III: THE PROTESTANT AND THE WORD; PART IV: THE PROTESTANT IN COMPANY; PART V: THE PROTESTANT LIFE

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Book SynopsisA unique investigation of the political uses of different forms of communication - oral, manuscript, and printed - in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Venice. Today we take it for granted that communication and politics influence each other through spin-doctoring and media power. What, however, was the use of communication in an age when rulers recognized no political role for their subjects? And what access to political information did those excluded from government have?In answering these questions, Filippo de Vivo uses an extremely rich and diverse range of sources - from council debates to leaks and spies'' reports, from printed pamphlets to graffiti and rumours. In the process, he demonstrates just how closely political communication was intertwined with the wider social and economic life of the city. Challenging the social and cultural boundaries of more traditional accounts, he shows how politics in early modern Venice extended far beyond the patrician elite to involve the entTrade ReviewReview from previous edition DeVivo focuses on lines of transmission, patterns of exchange, pathways, regulations, and markets * Thomas Cohen, London Review of Books *A very original and significant contribution, both for its methodology and for its uses of sources. Information and Communication in Venice is an example of first class scholarship, based on an impressive series of arguments, written in a vivid, compelling style. I would strongly recommend this book to anybody interested in political history; in cultural and intellectual history; in the history of communication; in early modern European history as well as, of course, in the history of Venice. * Professor Carlo Ginzburg, UCLA *An impressive first book, based on a formidable range of sources. De Vivo's perceptive comments on the management of communication should be read by all historians of early modern Europe and by scholars in media studies as well. * Professor Peter Burke, University of Cambridge *...de Vivo's monograph [is] a tour de force. No study better lays bare how the Venetian government really worked... * Liz Horodowich, Reviews in History *...a major contribution to the history of early modern Venice and also to the history of information and propaganda. Besides being original in its ideas and firmly based on the sources, the book is remarkable for something much rarer in historical monographs: its penetrating political insights. Indeed, the claim made in the book's subtitle is truly justified. * Board of the Leverhulme Prize 2008 *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Communication in the government ; 2. Communication in the political arena ; 3. Communication in the city ; 4. Communicative transactions ; 5. The system challenged: The Interdict of 1606-7 ; 6. Propaganda? Print in context ; Epilogue ; Bibliographical references ; Index

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Book SynopsisUlster Since 1600 surveys the history of the province from plantation to partition, and onwards from the formation of the Northern Ireland state to the ''Troubles'' of recent decades. It synthesises existing historical knowledge and also brings new insights to bear on the political, social, and economic evolution of the province and its peoples. The word ''Ulster'' conjures up images of communal conflict, sectarianism, and peace processes of indefinite duration but, as this volume shows, there is much more to the history of Ulster and its peoples. From the Plantation of Ulster in the early seventeenth century, the province has been home to three major ethnic and religious groups. It was this radically reconstituted society that produced a precociously early emigration to North America, that celebrated the outbreak of the French Revolution, and that in the Victorian era hosted Ireland''s first industrial city. Its rural poor suffered destruction and death during the Great Famine of the Trade ReviewCo-authored histories of Ulster are far from unknown, but this new one is probably the most intelligently planned and well executed and it is certainly pretty much up-to-date. ... an admirable account of the particularity of Ulster, of how it came to have its distinctive modern history, and why many of the legacies of its past, however attenuated, still have the power to haunt and to bite back. * John Morrill, European History Quarterly *one of the most significant histories of Ulster published in the past couple of decades. * Irish Times *...because of the high quality of so many of its chapters, it surely has to be one of the most significant histories of Ulster published in the past couple of decades...This is the great merit of the book: each chapter provides an audit of research on a clearly defined area, a showcase, a distillation of the scholarly work of many. * Irish Times *This book is a useful survey of literature in a variety of sub-fields in the history of Ulster and will make a useful textbook for undergraduate and post-graduate courses in Irish history and Irish studies broadly defined. * Eoin McLaughlin, Journal of Sottish Historical Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Ulster Since 1600 ; 1. The Early Modern Economy, 1600-1780 ; 2. Politics and Society, 1600-1800 ; 3. Family, Sex, and Marriage, 1600-1800 ; 4. People and Population Change, 1600-1914 ; 5. Religion and Society, 1600-1914 ; 6. Crime, Policing, and the Law, 1600-1900 ; 7. Popular Culture, 1600-1914 ; 8. Urban Ulster Since 1600 ; 9. Migration and Emigration, 1600-1945 ; 10. The Rural Economy, 1780-1914 ; 11. Business and Finance, 1780-1945 ; 12. Labour and Society, 1780-1945 ; 13. Education Since 1780 ; 14. Politics and Society 1800-1960 ; 15. Gender, Family, and Sexuality, 1800-2000 ; 16. Sport in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ; 17. Agriculture and Rural Policy Since 1914 ; 18. Industry and Labour Since 1945 ; 19. Social Policy and Social Change Since 1914 ; 20. Politics Since 1960

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Book SynopsisThe financial humbling of a great power in any age demands explanation. In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) Louis XIV''s France had to fight way beyond its borders and the costs of war rose to unprecedented heights. With royal income falling as economic activity slowed down, the widening gap between revenue and expenditure led the government into a series of desperate expedients. Ever-larger quantities of credit, often obtained through fairly novel and poorly-understood financial instruments, were combined with ill-advised monetary manipulations. Moreover, through poor ministerial management the system of earmarking revenues for spending descended into chaos. All this forced up the cost of loans, foreign exchange, and military logistics as government contractors and bankers built the mounting risks into the price of their contracts and sought to profit from the situation. There was already a problem with controlling royal contractors, who ran the entire financial machinery, but this only grew worse, not least because the government further indemnified and bailed out men deemed too essential to fail. In some cases entrepreneurs even managed to penetrate the corridors of the ministries, either as heads of royal agencies or even as junior ministers. This added up to nothing less than an early military-industrial complex. As state debt climbed to astronomical levels and financial instruments collapsed in value France''s chances of remaining the superpower of the age shrank. The military decline of a great power often goes hand-in-hand with its financial decline, but rarely so dramatically as in early eighteenth-century France.Trade Review... a clear, lucid and easily comprehensible description of how military finance operated in the largest unitary European state of the eighteenth century ... will make this book one of the standard works of reference for all historians of French and European finance and state formation. * Aaron Graham, French History. Volume 27, Issue 3. *In Guy Rowlands's scholarly and spirited new book, we dive into the underworld of French royal finance ... there can be few better guides to this underworld than Rowlands, who leads us to a deeply researched, thoroughly convincing explanation of the how and why of financial breakdown in this period. * Erik Goldner, H-France *A lexical analysis of Rowland's writing makes the grim reality of the story he tells plain. ... Ostensibly focused on the financing of the war of the Spanish succession, this book has many ramifications. * Michael Hawcroft, French Studies *this study provides a sure guide to a bureaucratic labyrinth and a convincing argument that the War of the Spanish Succession was even more of a disaster for France than has generally been believed. * Jotham Parsons, The Historian *this book fills a crucial gap in the literature. One can only admire the author's ability to piece together disparate elements to document and discuss a number of important, if complex, issues. It will remain a must-read for all interested in Louis XIV's finance and one of Europe's most important conflicts. * Joel Felix, The Economic History Review *Rowlands is meticulous and compelling in describing the gathering of the financial storm that hit France in the final years of Louis XIV's reign, and he employs a wealth of original material to document the interactions between the ministry and the officers of the royal treasury * Julian Swann, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsPART I: THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF WAR AND THE FINANCIAL CHAIN OF COMMAND ; PART II: RAISING MONEY, FINDING MONEY, MAKING MONEY: SOURCING REVENUE IN AN AGE OF CRISIS ; PART III: THE DEGENERATION OF MILITARY FUNDING AND THE RISING COSTS OF WAR

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Book SynopsisExplores the concept of improvement which took root in seventeenth-century England, the political and economic circumstances which led to its rise, the effect it had on the society and culture of England, and its subsequent outreach as the British Empire spread.Trade ReviewThe Invention of Improvement combines sophisticated synthesis of recent scholarship with extensive research on the printed literature of the period. It deftly weaves together macro-analysis of England's changing fortunes with illuminating vignettes of the activities of particular visionaries and the texts that enshrined their ambitions. * Alexandra Walsham, The Times Literary Supplement *This is a mature work of scholarship which describes and analyses the development of economic theory in the early modern period and its impact on economic and social policy in the time of Pepys. Thought provoking and readable, it raises fundamental issues of economic policy which are still relevant today. * Julian Amey, chair of the 2015 judging panel for the Samuel Pepys Award *The historical sweep of this book is in fact vast, from the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century through to the Enlightenment of the 1700s and beyond. Its subject encompasses the entire socio-economic development of that period. It is therefore a challenging book but also a very rewarding one. * Sue Nicholson, Pepys Diary *This book extends the chronological breadth and analytical depth of this research agenda and employs a novel analytical framework for interpreting it: the culture of improvement. * S. J. Thompson, Continuity and Change *Its conceptualization and massively detailed content deserve the highest praise ... Slack's magnum opus crowns a career in the field of early modern economic history of quite exceptional achievement. * Anthony Fletcher, History *this book offers the most detailed examination to date of the development of this concept in English print culture from c.1570 to c.1730 ... Slack's argument is informed by years of painstaking research and extraordinarily wide reading. * Brodie Waddell, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsList of illustrations ; Abbreviations and Conventions ; 1. Introduction: Varieties of Improvement ; 2. The Discovery of England ; 3. Elizabethan Foundations 1570-1640 ; 4. Revolutions 1640-1670 ; 5. Wealth and Happiness 1670-1690 ; 6. Challenges to Affluence 1690-1730 ; 7. England's Improvement ; 8. Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe Reformation of the Landscape is a richly detailed and original study of the relationship between the landscape of Britain and Ireland and the tumultuous religious changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It explores how the profound theological and liturgical transformations that marked the era between 1500 and 1750 both shaped, and were in turn shaped by, the places and spaces within the physical environment in which they occurred. Moving beyond churches, cathedrals, and monasteries, it investigates how the Protestant and Catholic Reformations affected perceptions and practices associated with trees, woods, springs, rocks, mountain peaks, prehistoric monuments, and other distinctive topographical features of the British Isles. Drawing on extensive research and embracing insights from a range of disciplines, Alexandra Walsham examines the origins, immediate consequences, and later repercussions of these movements of religious renewal, together with the complex but decisiTrade ReviewOne ends this impressive book wanting more and we can hope that a flotilla of new studies by other scholars will appear in its wake. * Kenneth Fincham, History Today *a fascinating account of the religious and cultural changes in Early Modern attitudes to shrines, stones, rocks, springs and much else besides ... a work of deep historical imagination. * Richard Sennett, Times Literary Supplement *... subtle and important. * Karl Miller, Times Literary Supplement *Recommended as a Book of the Year 2011 * Karl Miller, Times Literary Supplement *Walsham presents an admirably complex rendering of the British and Irish landscape * Elizabeth Yale, Social History of Medicine *This book represents the crowning glory of a new turn in Reformation historiography. Rather than the customary focus upon the origins, speed, direction and popularity of England's sixteenth-century Reformations, Walsham illuminates their impact upon the landscape with unparalleled breadth, variety and sophistication. * Andrew Hopper, Rural History *The Reformation of the Landscape is an astonishing accomplishment ... This is not just a book for historians of the landscape, or even Reformation historians. It is a book for anybody with at least a passing interest in the history of Britain or its constituent parts, in its religion, its culture, its social practices, its memory or its national identity/identities. Within its pages the landscape is lovingly revealed, not as a backdrop for human actors, or an occasional participant in events, but as an active agent in our history, and a rich, multifarious and constantly evolving record of the past as experienced by all who lived in it. * Jonathan Willis, English Historical Review *This is an important book: of encouragement and example, as well as stimulation and provocation. * Paul Everson, Landscape History *Walsham has superbly told the story of the "rich, eclectic, and contradictory legacy which the Reformation...left upon the landscape" of Britain and Ireland. * Rudolph P. Almasy, The Sixteenth Century Journal *This enormously learned, rich book is a fascinating archaeology, revealing much about how that mental world came into being. * Carl Watkins, Magdalene College, Cambridge *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Loca Sacra: Religion and the Landscape before the Reformation ; 2. Idols in the Landscape: The Impact of Protestant Reform ; 3. Britannia Sancta: Catholicism, Counter Reformation, and the Landscape ; 4. The Religious Regeneration of the Landscape: Ritual, Rehabilitation, and Renewal ; 5. God's Great Book in Folio: Providence, Science, and the Natural Environment ; 6. Therapeutic Waters: Religion, Medicine, and the Landscape ; 7. Invented Traditions: Legend, Custom, and Memory ; Conclusion ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, the most notorious police forces in the history of the British Isles. During the Irish War of Independence (1920-1), the British government recruited thousands of ex-soldiers to serve as constables in the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Black and Tans, while also raising a paramilitary raiding force of ex-officers - the Auxiliary Division. From the summer of 1920 to the summer of 1921, these forces became the focus of bitter controversy. As the struggle for Irish independence intensified, the police responded to ambushes and assassinations by the guerrillas with reprisals and extrajudicial killings. Prisoners and suspects were abused and shot, the homes and shops of their families and supporters were burned, and the British government was accused of imposing a reign of terror on Ireland. Based on extensive archival research, this is the first serious study of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries and the part they played in the Irish Trade ReviewReview from previous edition While the Black and Tans served for less than two years, their disastrous deployment has lived long in Irish cultural memory. Through dispassionate research and fastidiously marshalled sources, D. M. Leeson undermines many enduring misapprehensions that still surround this most controversial of police forces. * Peter Geoghegan, Times Literary Supplement *A fresh, often exciting narrative that convinces the reader that there has indeed been a distortion in the general image of the men in these two forces...The Black and Tans will repay close reading by anyone interested in those savage years of the Irish War of Independence, when trust was hard to come by and brotherhood a flexible term for many involved in the horrors. Leeson has convincingly questioned a great deal of received opinion, and probed the way it was received in the first place. * Stephen Wade, Times Higher Education *...lifts the lid on a discreditable episode of recent British history and paves the way for future research. * Nigel Jones, History Today *Table of ContentsPreface ; Maps ; List of abbreviations ; Note to the reader ; Introduction ; 1. The Two-Headed Ass: Coalition policy and Coalition Policing in Ireland ; 2. 'The Dark Hours are Dreaded': The War of Independence in West Galway ; 3. Constabulary in Khaki: The Black and Tans ; 4. Dr. Tudor's Beast Folk: The Auxiliary Division ; 5. One-Sided War: Police and Auxiliaries in Combat ; 6. 'Come Out, Sinn Fein!' Analysing Police Reprisals ; 7. The Devil's Work: Explaining Police Reprisals ; Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIt is usually claimed that serfs were oppressed and unfree, but is this assumption true? Freedom''s Price, building on a new reading of archival material, attempts a fundamental re-appraisal of the continuing orthodoxy that a ''serf'' economy embodied peasant exploitation. It reveals that, in fact, Prussian ''subject'' peasants fared much better than their ''free'' neighbours; they had mutual rights and obligations with nobles and the state.In this volume, Sean Eddie seeks to establish the true ''price of freedom'' paid by the peasants both in the so-called Second Serfdom around 1650 and in the enfranchisement of 1807-21. Far from representing further exploitation, the peasants drove a hard bargain, and many nobles subsequently fared worse than their tenants; subjection was abolished and land ownership was transferred from noble to peasant. Capital was therefore at the centre of the pre-capitalist economy, and the growing economic polarization of society owed more to the peasants'' accTrade ReviewRelations between the peasantry, the Junkers and the state are central to understanding Prussian and German history between the middle of the eighteenth and the middle of the nineteenth century. By looking again at old evidence and finding much that is new, Sean Eddie has succeeded in mounting a powerfully revisionist challenge to the accepted picture. His lucid and cogently argued book will prove to be a landmark in the historiography of the period. * Professor Tim Blanning, University of Cambridge *Compellingly argued and skilfully written, Eddie fundamentally challenges existing orthodoxies to produce a provocative, wide-ranging and important work. * Royal Historical Society Gladstone Prize Committee 2013 *Eddie's extraordinarily important reevaluation of the political economy of rural Brandenburg-Prussia slays a number of historiographic dragons and knocks down a number of historical shibboleths about peasants, about nobles, about Prussia, and about the role of subjection in rural societies ... [he is] a scholar who understands the rich complexity and contingency of Prussian rural history. A short review can scarcely do his book justice. Rich with insight and studded with marvelous aperçus ... it is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Prussia or the transformation of European rural societies more generally. * David E. Barclay, American Historical Review *this is one of those rare books that utilizes superb archival research and sound reasoning truly to transform conventional thinking on a subject ... S.A. Eddie provocatively challenges our understanding of serfdom in Prussia between 1648 and 1848 by asserting that the relationship between noble and serf was mutually beneficial ... the tremendous research and logical arguments will make Freedom's Price a force to be reckoned with for decades to come. * Michael V. Leggiere, The Historian *Table of ContentsPART ONE: THE MANORIAL ECONOMY; PART TWO: REFORM; PART THREE: CONCLUSION

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Book SynopsisGermany and the Holy Roman Empire offers a striking new interpretation of a crucial era in German and European history, from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to the dissolution of the Reich in 1806. Over two volumes, Joachim Whaley rejects the notion that this was a long period of decline, and shows instead how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War. The impact of international developments on the Reich is also examined.The first volume begins with an account of the reforms of the reign of Maximilian I and concludes with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It offers a new interpretation of the Reformation, the Peasants'' War, the Schmalkaldic War and the Peace of Augsburg, and of the post-Reformation development of Protestantism and Catholicism. The German policy successfully resisted the ambitions of Charles V and the repeated onslaughtsof both the Ottomans and the French, and it remTrade ReviewReview from previous edition scholars ... will concur in their debt to Whaley's magnum opus ... [it] stands apart as the most authoritative account of the early modern empire * C. Ingrao, CHOICE *a monumental history of the Holy Roman Empire which far surpasses everything that has been written about the subject to date. German history between the Reformation and Napoleon has never been written in such a lively, multi-faceted, source-based, and coherent manner. A history that embraces the whole of [German] culture, religion, economy and society * Süddeutsche Zeitung *Whaley sees the Reich as a continually reforming, diverse but legally ordered polity, rather than some kind of bizarre monstrosity or collective fiction. His two volumes are exceptionally well written and highly nuanced and reflect the latest scholarship. Indeed, they represent a huge personal achievement. They will provide a standard of scholarship against which all future works will be measured * Alan Sked, Reviews in History *...its complexity and sophistication, [the] stupendous breadth and depth of Whaley's knowledge. The two volumes are full of incisive chapters on topics as diverse as economic policies, religious reform movements, court culture ... skilfully crafted and engrossing narrative * Michael Schaich, Times Literary Supplement *superb and authoritative study * Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph *Whaley's account is one of the best works on early modern German history. From the first page to the last, it shows how German history can be presented as both a history of Emperor and Empire, and a history of common culture. It will immediately establish itself as a standard guide to its subject. * Georg Schmidt, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena *Overall brilliantly successful ... a detailed account of two hundred years of German history ... In a thousand details the monograph is more knowledgeable that other English-language accounts of German history ... and in numerous respects it is more knowledgeable than many a German handbook ... Whaley demonstrates a stupendous knowledge of German history. The reviewer believes this book is the most important English-language work on pre-modern German history for at least two decades * Axel Gotthard, Sehepunkte *An enterprise of this magnitude requires a steady hand on the tiller, as the author steers between the rocks of historiographical controversy and the shoals of submerged detail. Whaley accomplishes his argosy with poise and style. These two volumes, which will undoubtedly become a first point of reference, are a remarkable achievement of which the author should feel justly proud * Tom Scott, English Historical Review *the most comprehensive survey of Germany's early modern history ever undertaken, the first book of its kind since the 1950s, and one of the most substantial works of historical scholarship published in the UK in 2011 * Research Horizons, University of Cambridge *His work, though different in emphasis and organisation, stands equal with the major German speaking syntheses today existing such as by Horst Rabe, Karl Otmar von Aretin, Heinz Schilling, or Georg Schmidt. His detailed knowledge of the vast relevant research literature, in German or in any other language, on topics ranging from the later fifteenth to the early nineteenth century is breath-taking. As such, this work is a must-read for all students of Early Modern Germany unless they work on specific issues of social and demographic history. The superior quality of Whaley's synthesis is beyond question. This is a masterpiece that demands close attention and respect. * Robert von Friedeburg, H-Soz-u-Kult online *an account whose methodological reflection, thematic range, and wealth of detail are unparalleled... these two volumes will quickly become standard works... their particular form, combining sections on historiography and methodology, structural history and the history of events, has no counterpart in the German-language historiography. * Stefan Ehrenpreis, German Historical Institute London Bulletin *...successfully combines an experts love of detail with a clear view of the large picture...[It] can be recommended without hesitation as a valuable handbook for history teachers, students and journalists... [and] anyone interested in the historical-political development of Germany in Europe. * Willi Eisele, AHF-Information *a work of impressive scholarship and considerable erudition ... These two volumes put the Empire firmly back into German history. They provide a richly detailed, judiciously balanced discussion of the last three centuries of the Empires existence ... Whaleys history is a must for anyone with a serious interest in early modern Germany. * Peter Wilson, Central European History *A full and fresh assessment of more than three hundred years of German history ... the best political and institutional history of the Reich in any language ... Whaley seems to have read and digested everything. For this astonishing achievement alone one must be grateful ... As a general treatment of three centuries of legal and institutional history Whaley's volume will stand as a monument of erudite revisionism that, within its self-imposed limits, could hardly be improved. * H. C. Erik Midelfort, The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. XLIII No. 4 (2012), pp. 1225-7. *essential reading * Edward Bradbury, Contemporary Review *Joachim Whaley's magnificent new two-volume study ... sets out precisely wherein the Old Reichs distinctive character lay and enables us to appreciate the reasons why it held the loyalties of so many for so long ... The whole is presented with admirable lucidity, free of jargon ... Whaley's monumental and magisterial study will assuredly quickly become and deservedly long remain a standard authoritative handbook for anyone concerned with the subject * John L Flood, The Modern Language Review *Joachim Whaley's magnificent book gives readers the best, most persuasive available account in any language of the revisionist case. He turns the old view on its head ... He displays a remarkably wide-ranging knowledge of German culture during the three centuries covered by his book ... This is a bracing book of ideas and arguments, sustained over 125 chapters and almost 1,500 pages. It is both scholarly and very readable. * David Blackbourn, Common Knowledge *This monumental study ... rests on an impressive body of knowledge, not least on knowledge of the secondary literature ... the extraordinary readability of the two volumes ... makes this text an enjoyable read for specialists, students and enthusiasts from many different fields. * Laura Anna Macor, Historia Philosophica [translation] *Whaley negotiates a vast bibliography, which includes the history of institutions, to offer an excellent tool that is both a compass for orienting oneself among the various issues and itself a starting point. * Michaela Valente, Archivio Storico Italiana *One of the most impressive and helpful scholarly monographs of 2012... In this landmark study, Whaley provides a historical overview in which he evaluates narratives and interpretations, that are revealing about the thinking of the period but also in view of some modern views and theories. Chapter by chapter, he tests the validity of perceptions and the sense of identity Germans began to develop in the 16th century not least in opposition to wider European aspirations and claims. By questioning patterns of established thought Whaley manages time and again to add new insights to the interface of subject areas such as theology, politics, the economy and social issues... His study will be as useful to the established scholar as it is to the novice seeking to understand the influences and concerns that shaped the...Empire. * Ulrike Zitzlsperger, The Years Work in Modern Language Studies, lxxiv (2014) *These two-volumes ... are the fruit of long and thorough research and stand out for their many hundreds of pages of reader-friendly freshness. The external perspective of British scholarship has succeeded in producing a standard work on both German and European history. * Prof. Dr. Bernd Schneidmüller, University of Heidelberg [translation] *Joachim Whaley crowns a long generations work of demystifying the empires history with these two large, learned, and impressive volumes. * The Journal of Modern History *Whaleys two volumes mark an immense accomplishment and should be read by any scholar working on the early modern Empire or early modern politics in general. They represent the most comprehensive history of the Empire available in English and are sure to generate debate for decades to come. * Christopher Close, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 2013 literature *a massive and exceptionally successful project that offers a comprehensive view of the Holy Roman Empire ... From the point of view of Austrian history, the author is constantly concerned to reflect critically on the relationship of the [Habsburgs'] German hereditary lands, as well as Hungary and Bohemia to the Empire. The volume is encyclopaedic in scope ... the author demonstrates great breadth and expertise in pursuing his themes of political, cultural, constitutional and social history ... In view of its balanced approach and profundity the volume will occupy an unchallenged place in the libraries of scholars next to the work of Aretin and the major handbooks of German and European history ... This work is also exceptionally well written and it represents an awesome achievement on the part of the author * Martin Scheutz, Mitteilingen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 2014 [translation] *a recognised authority in the field stupendous and enviable knowledge of the scholarly literature [offers] a counterpoint to the decline narratives [of the empire] that still dominate [German historiography] * Gabriele Haug-Moritz, Zeitschrift fuer Historische Forschung *There is no similar comprehensive and multi-perspectival account [of early modern German history] ... the publication of these volumes is an event for German historians too ... With its encyclopaedic aspiration, the mass of information he offers concerning political, legal, religious-intellectual, administrative, educational and economic developments, as well as the numerous perceptive judgements which correct previous research, Whaley has produced a standard work on the history of the early modern Old Reich, which stands on its own in the international scholarship on this subject ... He has produced a thoroughly scholarly and intelligent work that combines a wealth of information with an ability to formulate original arguments and revise received scholarly opinions. * Christoph Kampmann, Historische Zeitschrift *These two volumes offer an historical survey of roughly three centuries such as I have never before encountered. Joachim Whaley has produced a masterpiece. He has not overlooked anything at all. The two volumes are perfectly researched and the price ... is more than reasonable. Anyone interested in modern history and in particular the history of Germany must read this work. * Fachbuchkritik [review of German edition] *a pleasure to read ... Whaley shows how the efforts to create an intellectual and political framework in the pre-constitutional era had lasting effects to the present. * Joachim Frank, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger [review of German edition] *a great achievement that he has introduced the English-speaking public to German history before the twentieth century in such a comprehensive manner and that he shows so decisively how the old national narrative has been revised. The sheer volume of the material that he employs also commands respect. * Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [review of German edition] *The new standard work on the period in which people still spoke of "German liberties". * Jens Jessen, Die Zeit [review of German edition] *Joachim Whaley's two volumes on the Holy Roman Empire constitute what is undoubtedly the best work on the topic currently available on the European market ... Whaley surpasses all [others] ... He thus overcomes the prevalent tendency of writing the history of the Empire in separate political, constitutional, religious and economic terms ... he displays an astonishing eye for detail ... No other piece of scholarship can match the attention to detail paid to such a wide variety of different aspects of the history of the Holy Roman Empire as can be found in Whaley's magnum opus. Whaley stands out, as his predecessors in writing the history of the Empire had primarily concentrated on political history alone. * Michael North, German History *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Narratives of Early Modern German History ; I. GERMANY AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE IN 1500 ; 1. Origins and Frontiers ; 2. The Reich as a Polity ; 3. Fragmented Territories ; 4. The Reich and the German Nation ; II. THE REFORM OF THE REICH AND THE CHURCH C. 1490-1519 ; 5. The Reformation Era in German history ; 6. The Reich under Maximilian I ; 7. Reich, Papacy, and Reichskirche ; 8. Religious Renewal and the Laity ; 9. Humanism in the Reich ; 10. The 'Print Revolution' and the Public Sphere ; 11. Economic Landscapes, Communities, and their Grievances ; 12. Martin Luther and the 'Luther affair' 1517-1519 ; III. CHARLES V AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE REFORMATION IN THE 1520S ; 13. The Reich During the First Decade of Charles V ; 14. Luther and Imperial Politics, 1519-1526 ; 15. Luther and the German Reform Movement ; 16. Alternative Reformations and the Dominance of Lutheranism ; 17. The Knights' War, 1522-1523 ; 18. The Peasants' War, 1525 ; 19. Reformation in the Cities ; IV. MASTERING THE REFORMATION C. 1526-1555 ; 20. The Emergence of Protestant Territories ; 21. The Persistence of Catholicism ; 22. Charles V, Ferdinand, and the Reich in Europe ; 23. The Establishment of Protestantism, 1526-1530 ; 24. The Schmalkaldic League, its Counterparts, and the Politics of the Reich, 1530-1541 ; 25. Charles V as 'Lord of Germany', 1541-1548 ; 26. The Triumph of the Reich, 1548-1555 ; V. MANAGING THE PEACE 1555-1618 ; 27. Contours of the 'Confessional Age' ; 28. Emperors, Imperial Officials, and Estates after the Peace of Augsburg ; 29. Constitutional developments after 1555: Reichstag, Kreise, Courts, and Legislation ; 30. The Reich in Europe ; 31. Managing the Domestic Peace, 1555-c.1585 ; 32. The Consensus Falters, c. 1585-1603 ; 33. Paralysis, 1603-1614 ; 34. Problems of the Habsburg Dynasty ; 35. The Reich in the Reign of Emperor Matthias, 1612-1619 ; 36. The Crisis of the Habsburg lands ; 37. Imperial Public Law and the Struggle over the Imperial Constitution ; 38. Irenicism and Patriotism on the Eve of War ; VII. THE GERMAN TERRITORIES AND CITIES AFTER 1555 ; 39. Problems of Interpretation ; 40. A Benign Environment? ; 41. State Formation? ; 42. Domestic Order and Defence ; 43. Confessionalization? ; 44. Finance, Taxation, and Estates ; 45. The Resurgence of the Courts ; 46. The Imperial Cities ; 47. Responding to Crises ; VII. THE THIRTY YEARS WAR 1618-1648 ; 48. The Thirty Years War in German History ; 49. What Kind of Conflict? ; 50. The Reconquest of Austria and Bohemia, 1618-1623 ; 51. Ferdinand Victorious ; 52. Denmark and the War for the Reich, 1623-1629 ; 53. What Kind of Reich? Sweden and the Defence of German Liberties, 1630-1635 ; 54. Wallenstein and After ; 55. France, Sweden, and the German Way, 1635-1648 ; 56. The Peace of Westphalia ; 57. The Impact of the War on German Society ; 58. The Thirty Years War and the German Polity ; Glossary ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisGermany and the Holy Roman Empire offers a striking new interpretation of a crucial era in German and European history, from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to the dissolution of the Reich in 1806. Over two volumes, Joachim Whaley rejects the notion that this was a long period of decline, and shows instead how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War. The impact of international developments on the Reich is also examined.Volume II begins with the Peace of Westphalia and concludes with the dissolution of the Reich. Whaley analyses the remarkable resurgence of the Reich after the Thirty Years War, which saw the Habsburg emperors achieve a new position of power and influence and which enabled the Reich to withstand the military threats posed by France and the Turks in the later seventeenth century. He gives a rich account of topics such as Pietism and baroque Catholicism, the German enTrade ReviewReview from previous edition: Whaley sees the Reich as a continually reforming, diverse but legally ordered polity, rather than some kind of bizarre monstrosity or collective fiction. His two volumes are exceptionally well written and highly nuanced and reflect the latest scholarship. Indeed, they represent a huge personal achievementthey will provide a standard of scholarship against which all future works will be measured * Alan Sked, Reviews in History *its complexity and sophistication [...the] stupendous breadth and depth of Whaley's knowledge. The two volumes are full of incisive chapters on topics as diverse as economic policies, religious reform movements, court culture ... skilfully crafted and engrossing narrative * Michael Schaich, Times Literary Supplement *superb and authoritative study * Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph *Whaley's account is one of the best works on early modern German history. From the first page to the last, it shows how German history can be presented as both a history of Emperor and Empire, and a history of common culture. It will immediately establish itself as a standard guide to its subject * Georg Schmidt, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena *[Whaley's] skilfully crafted and engrossing narrative shows with great lucidity how enduring and successful were the constitutional structures put in place around 1500 * Times Literary Supplement *the most comprehensive survey of Germany's early modern history ever undertaken, the first book of its kind since the 1950s, and one of the most substantial works of historical scholarship published in the UK in 2011 * Research Horizons, University of Cambridge *An enterprise of this magnitude requires a steady hand on the tiller, as the author steers between the rocks of historiographical controversy and the shoals of submerged detail Whaley accomplishes his argosy with poise and style. These two volumes, which will undoubtedly become a first point of reference, are a remarkable achievement of which the author should feel justly proud * Tom Scott, English Historical Review *His work, though different in emphasis and organisation, stands equal with the major German speaking syntheses today existing such as by Horst Rabe, Karl Otmar von Aretin, Heinz Schilling, or Georg Schmidt. His detailed knowledge of the vast relevant research literature, in German or in any other language, on topics ranging from the later fifteenth to the early nineteenth century is breath-taking. As such, this work is a must-read for all students of Early Modern Germany unless they work on specific issues of social and demographic history. The superior quality of Whaley's synthesis is beyond question. This is a masterpiece that demands close attention and respect. * Robert von Friedeburg, H-Soz-u-Kult online *an account whose methodological reflection, thematic range, and wealth of detail are unparalleled... these two volumes will quickly become standard works... their particular form, combining sections on historiography and methodology, structural history and the history of events, has no counterpart in the German-language historiography. * Stefan Ehrenpreis, German Historical Institute London Bulletin *...successfully combines an experts love of detail with a clear view of the large picture...[It] can be recommended without hesitation as a valuable handbook for history teachers, students and journalists... [and] anyone interested in the historical-political development of Germany in Europe. * Willi Eisele, AHF-Information *a work of impressive scholarship and considerable erudition ... These two volumes put the Empire firmly back into German history. They provide a richly detailed, judiciously balanced discussion of the last three centuries of the Empires existence ... Whaleys history is a must for anyone with a serious interest in early modern Germany. * Peter Wilson, Central European History *A full and fresh assessment of more than three hundred years of German history ... the best political and institutional history of the Reich in any language ... Whaley seems to have read and digested everything. For this astonishing achievement alone one must be grateful ... As a general treatment of three centuries of legal and institutional history Whaley's volume will stand as a monument of erudite revisionism that, within its self-imposed limits, could hardly be improved. * H. C. Erik Midelfort, The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. XLIII No. 4 (2012), pp. 1225-7. *These two volumes offer an historical survey of roughly three centuries such as I have never before encountered. Joachim Whaley has produced a masterpiece. He has not overlooked anything at all. The two volumes are perfectly researched and the price ... is more than reasonable. Anyone interested in modern history and in particular the history of Germany must read this work. * Fachbuchkritik [review of German edition] *a pleasure to read ... Whaley shows how the efforts to create an intellectual and political framework in the pre-constitutional era had lasting effects to the present. * Joachim Frank, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger [review of German edition] *a great achievement that he has introduced the English-speaking public to German history before the twentieth century in such a comprehensive manner and that he shows so decisively how the old national narrative has been revised. The sheer volume of the material that he employs also commands respect. * Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [review of German edition] *The new standard work on the period in which people still spoke of "German liberties". * Jens Jessen, Die Zeit [review of German edition] *essential reading * Edward Bradbury, Contemporary Review *Joachim Whaley's magnificent new two-volume study ... sets out precisely wherein the Old Reichs distinctive character lay and enables us to appreciate the reasons why it held the loyalties of so many for so long ... The whole is presented with admirable lucidity, free of jargon ... Whaley's monumental and magisterial study will assuredly quickly become and deservedly long remain a standard authoritative handbook for anyone concerned with the subject. * John L Flood, The Modern Language Review *Joachim Whaley's magnificent book gives readers the best, most persuasive available account in any language of the revisionist case. He turns the old view on its head ... He displays a remarkably wide-ranging knowledge of German culture during the three centuries covered by his book ... This is a bracing book of ideas and arguments, sustained over 125 chapters and almost 1,500 pages. It is both scholarly and very readable. * David Blackbourn, Common Knowledge *This monumental study ... rests on an impressive body of knowledge, not least on knowledge of the secondary literature ... the extraordinary readability of the two volumes ... makes this text an enjoyable read for specialists, students and enthusiasts from many different fields. * Laura Anna Macor, Historia Philosophica [translation] *Whaley negotiates a vast bibliography, which includes the history of institutions, to offer an excellent tool that is both a compass for orienting oneself among the various issues and itself a starting point. * Michaela Valente, Archivio Storico Italiana *One of the most impressive and helpful scholarly monographs of 2012... In this landmark study, Whaley provides a historical overview in which he evaluates narratives and interpretations, that are revealing about the thinking of the period but also in view of some modern views and theories. Chapter by chapter, he tests the validity of perceptions and the sense of identity Germans began to develop in the 16th century not least in opposition to wider European aspirations and claims. By questioning patterns of established thought Whaley manages time and again to add new insights to the interface of subject areas such as theology, politics, the economy and social issues... His study will be as useful to the established scholar as it is to the novice seeking to understand the influences and concerns that shaped the...Empire. * Ulrike Zitzlsperger, The Years Work in Modern Language Studies, lxxiv (2014) *These two-volumes ... are the fruit of long and thorough research and stand out for their many hundreds of pages of reader-friendly freshness. The external perspective of British scholarship has succeeded in producing a standard work on both German and European history. * Prof. Dr. Bernd Schneidmüller, University of Heidelberg [translation] *Joachim Whaley crowns a long generations work of demystifying the empires history with these two large, learned, and impressive volumes. * The Journal of Modern History *Whaleys two volumes mark an immense accomplishment and should be read by any scholar working on the early modern Empire or early modern politics in general. They represent the most comprehensive history of the Empire available in English and are sure to generate debate for decades to come. * Christopher Close, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 2013 literature *Whaley's two volumes mark an immense accomplishment and should be read by any scholar working on the early modern Empire or early modern politics in general. They represent the most comprehensive history of the Empire available in English and are sure to genereate debate for decades to come. * Archiv fuer Reformationsgeschichte *a massive and exceptionally successful project that offers a comprehensive view of the Holy Roman Empire ... From the point of view of Austrian history, the author is constantly concerned to reflect critically on the relationship of the [Habsburgs'] German hereditary lands, as well as Hungary and Bohemia to the Empire. The volume is encyclopaedic in scope ... the author demonstrates great breadth and expertise in pursuing his themes of political, cultural, constitutional and social history ... In view of its balanced approach and profundity the volume will occupy an unchallenged place in the libraries of scholars next to the work of Aretin and the major handbooks of German and European history ... This work is also exceptionally well written and it represents an awesome achievement on the part of the author * Martin Scheutz, Mitteilingen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 2014 [translation] *a recognised authority in the field stupendous and enviable knowledge of the scholarly literature [offers] a counterpoint to the decline narratives [of the empire] that still dominate [German historiography] * Gabriele Haug-Moritz, Zeitschrift fuer Historische Forschung *There is no similar comprehensive and multi-perspectival account [of early modern German history] ... the publication of these volumes is an event for German historians too ... With its encyclopaedic aspiration, the mass of information he offers concerning political, legal, religious-intellectual, administrative, educational and economic developments, as well as the numerous perceptive judgements which correct previous research, Whaley has produced a standard work on the history of the early modern Old Reich, which stands on its own in the international scholarship on this subject ... He has produced a thoroughly scholarly and intelligent work that combines a wealth of information with an ability to formulate original arguments and revise received scholarly opinions. * Christoph Kampmann, Historische Zeitschrift *Joachim Whaley's two volumes on the Holy Roman Empire constitute what is undoubtedly the best work on the topic currently available on the European market ... Whaley surpasses all [others] ... He thus overcomes the prevalent tendency of writing the history of the Empire in separate political, constitutional, religious and economic terms ... he displays an astonishing eye for detail ... No other piece of scholarship can match the attention to detail paid to such a wide variety of different aspects of the history of the Holy Roman Empire as can be found in Whaley's magnum opus. Whaley stands out, as his predecessors in writing the history of the Empire had primarily concentrated on political history alone. * Michael North, German History *Table of ContentsPreface to Volume II ; I. RECONSTRUCTION AND RESURGENCE 1648-1705: THE REICH UNDER FERDINAND III AND LEOPOLD I ; 1. Historians and the Reich after the Thirty Years War ; 2. The Last Years of Ferdinand III: Western Leagues and Northern Wars ; 3. From Ferdinand III to Leopold I ; 4. Leopold I and his Foreign Enemies ; 5. A New Turkish Threat ; 6. Renewed Conflict with France ; 7. The Emperor, the Perpetual Reichstag, the Kreise, and Imperial Justice ; 8. Imperial Networks: the Reichskirche and the Imperial Cities ; 9. The Imperial Court at Vienna and Dynastic Elevations in the Reich ; 10. The Nature of the Reich: Projects and Culture ; 11. Interpretations of the Leopoldine Reic ; II. CONSOLIDATION AND CRISIS 1705-1740: THE REICH UNDER JOSEPH I AND CHARLES VI ; 12. Two Wars and Three Emperors ; 13. Leopold I, Joseph I, and the War of Spanish Succession ; 14. Joseph I and the Government of the Reich ; 15. Charles VI: Fruition or Decline? ; 16. Conflicting Priorities: c.1714 - c.1730 ; 17. Charles VI and the Government of the Reich ; 18. The Return of Confessional Politics? ; 19. The Problem of the Austrian Succession ; 20. The Ebb of Imperial Power 1733-1740? ; 21. The Reich in Print ; III. THE GERMAN TERRITORIES, C. 1648-C.1740 ; 22. An Age of Absolutism? ; 23. Contemporary Perceptions: From Reconstruction to Early Enlightenment ; 24. The Smaller Territories ; 25. Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia ; 26. The Revival of the Court and the Development of Territorial Government ; 27. The Court: its Culture, its Functions, and its Critics ; 28. The Development of Military Power ; 29. Princes and Estates ; 30. An Oppressed Peasantry? ; 31. Government and Society ; 32. Government and Economic Development ; 33. Public and Private Enterprise ; 34. Christian Polities: Baroque Catholicism ; 35. Christian Polities: the Territories of the Reichskirche ; 36. Christian Polities: Protestant Orthodoxy and Renewal ; 37. From Coexistence to Toleration? ; 38. Enlightenment and Patriotism ; IV. DECLINE OR MATURITY? THE REICH FROM CHARLES VII TO LEOPOLD II, C. 1740-1792 ; 39. Three Emperors and a King ; 40. Silesian Wars, 1740-1763 ; 41. Managing the Reich without the Habsburgs: Charles VII (1742-45) ; 42. The Return of the Habsburgs: Francis I (1745-1765) ; 43. The Reich without Enemies? Germany and Europe 1763-1792 ; 44. Renewal: Joseph II 1765-c.1776 ; 45. The Great Reform Debate: Joseph II c. 1778-1790 ; 46. Restoration: Leopold II 1790-92 ; 47. Central and Intermediate Institutions of the Reich ; 48. The Reich, the Public Sphere, and the Nation ; V. THE GERMAN TERRITORIES AFTER C. 1760 ; 49. Enlightenment and the Problem of Reform ; 50. Crisis and Opportunity ; 51. The Challenge of the Enlightenment and the Public Sphere ; 52. Protestant, Catholic and Jewish Aufklarung ; 53. Aufklarung and Government ; 54. Cameralism, Physiocracy, and the Provisioning of Society ; 55. Economic Policy: Manufactures, Guilds, Welfare, and Taxation ; 56. Administration, Law, and Justice ; 57. Education and Toleration ; 58. Courts and Culture ; 59. The Impact of Reform: Immunity against Revolution? ; VI. WAR AND DISSOLUTION: THE REICH 1792-1806 ; 60. Ruptures and Continuities ; 61. The Reich in the Revolutionary Wars ; 62. Reverberations of the French Revolution: Unrest and Uprisings ; 63. Reverberations of the French Revolution: Intellectuals ; 64. Schemes for the Reform of the Reich in the 1790s ; 65. The Peace of Luneville (1801) and the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (1803) ; 66. The Transformation of the Reich 1803-05 ; 67. Final Attempts at Reform and the Dissolution of the Reich 1806 ; Conclusion ; Glossary ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn sixteenth-century England Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex, enjoyed great domestic and international renown as a favourite of Elizabeth I. He was a soldier and a statesman of exceptionally powerful ambition. After his disastrous uprising in 1601 Essex fell from the heights of fame and favour, and ended his life as a traitor on the scaffold. This interdisciplinary account of the political culture of late Elizabethan England explores the ideological contexts of Essex''s extraordinary career and fall from grace, and the intricate relationship between thought and action in Elizabethan England. By the late sixteenth century, fundamental political models and vocabularies that were employed to legitimise the Elizabethan polity were undermined by the strains of war, the ambivalence that many felt towards the church, continued uncertainty over the succession, and the perceived weaknesses of the rule of the aging Elizabeth. Essex''s career and revolt threw all of these strains into relief. Trade Reviewa nuanced study, essential reading on the rebellion and its aftermath; the confused and often terrifying political culture of late Elizabethan England; and the varied and over-confident followers who flocked to the Earl, believing that he had the power to solve their problems. * Andrew Hadfield, Times Literary Supplement *... a must-read for everyone interested in late Elizabethan history and political culture. * Kinga Földváry, Sixteenth Century Journal *an intellectual analysis of Essex's career, one based on a formidable range of research in a range of aspects of sixteenth-century political and intellectual history. It seems unlikely that a better analysis of this topic will be produced. * Neil Younger, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Essex Rising of 1601 ; 2. Justifying War ; 3. 'Profane pollicy'? Religion, Toleration, and the Politics of Succession ; 4. Physician of the State: Essex and the Elizabethan Polity ; 5. The Popular Traitor: Responses to Essex ; 6. Scholars and Martialists: The Politics of History and Scholarship ; Conclusion ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn the terrifying summer of 1942 in Belgium, when the Nazis began the brutal roundup of Jewish families, parents searched desperately for safe haven for their children. As Suzanne Vromen reveals in Hidden Children of the Holocaust , these children found sanctuary with other families and schools-but especially in Roman Catholic convents and orphanages.Vromen has interviewed not only those who were hidden as children, but also the Christian women who rescued them, and the nuns who gave the children shelter, all of whose voices are heard in this powerfully moving book. Indeed, here are numerous first-hand memoirs of life in a wartime convent-the secrecy, the humor, the admiration, the anger, the deprivation, the cruelty, and the kindness-all with the backdrop of the terror of the Nazi occupation. We read the stories of the women of the Resistance who risked their lives in placing Jewish children in the care of the Church, and of the Mothers Superior and nuns who sheltered these children aTrade ReviewA sober and moving addition to our knowledge. Well written... fascinating... a very detailed portrait of a unique World War II and Holocaust experience. * Jerusalem Post *[Vromen] analyses both intelligently and succinctly the whole issue of the hidden children ... Vromen succeeds in providing a synthesis of this hitherto unwritten aspect of the war, and bringing it to the attention of a wide Anglophone readership. * José Gotovitch, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; INTRODUCTION; EPILOGUE; APPENDIX: NUNS HONORED AS RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS; NOTES; REFERENCES; INDEX

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Book SynopsisRobert Bellarmine was one of the pillars of post-Reformation Catholicism: he was a celebrated theologian and a highly ranked member of the Congregations of the Inquisition and of the Index, the censor in charge of the Galileo affair. Bellarmine was also one of the most original political theorists of his time, and he participated directly in many of the political conflicts that agitated Europe between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. Stefania Tutino offers the first full-length study of the impact of Bellarmine''s theory of the potestas indirecta in early modern Europe. Following the reactions to Bellarmine''s theory across national and confessional boundaries, this book explores some of the most crucial political and theological knots in the history of post-Reformation Europe, from the controversy over the Oath of Allegiance to the battle over the Interdetto in Venice. The book sets those political and religious controversies against the background of the theological and institutional developments of the post-Tridentine Catholic Church. By examining the violent and at times surprising controversies originated by Bellarmine''s theory, this book challenges some of the traditional assumptions regarding the theological shape of post-Tridentine Catholicism; it offers a fresh perspective on the centrality of the links between confessional affiliation and political allegiance in the development of the modern nation-states; and it contributes to our understanding of the development of ''modern'' notions of power and authority.Trade Reviewan important contribution to and arguably necessary for studies of Bellarmine and of early modern Catholicism * Orlando O. Espín, Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Stefania Tutino is emerging as one of the more influential younger scholars on Catholic political theory ca. 1600, and her most recent book is yet another valuable contribution to this area of research. * Marcus Friedrich, Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; List of Abbreviations ; Introduction ; 1570s-1580s: the foundations of Bellarmine's potestas indirecta ; 1580s-1590s: the controversies over the Controversiae ; The controversy over the Interdetto and the attacks against Bellarmine's theory ; Bellarmine and the Oath of Allegiance ; Robert Bellarmine and the potestas indirecta: Continental repercussions ; The making of a scapegoat: the case of Martin Becanus ; Robert Bellarmine and the Catholic Church: questions of power and authority ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisJacob Arminius (1559-1609) is one of the few theologians in the history of Christianity who has lent his name to a significant theological movement. The dissemination of his thought throughout Europe, Great Britain, and North America, along with the appeal of his ideas in current Protestant evangelical spheres (whether rightly understood or misunderstood), continue to attract both scholarly and popular attention. Keith Stanglin and Thomas McCall''s Jacob Arminius offers a constructive synthesis of the current state of Arminius studies. There is a chasm separating technical, scholarly discussions of Arminius and popular-level appeals to his thought. The authors seek to bridge the scholarly and general discussions, providing an account based on interaction with all the primary sources and latest secondary research that will be helpful to the scholar as well as comprehensible and relevant to the undergraduate student. The authors describe key elements of Arminius'' theology with careful attention to its proper context; they also explore the broader theological implications of his views.Trade ReviewStanglin and McCall present an appropriate and instructive balance between reflection on Arminius' theology and attention to his life. ... this book is a readable volume for the target audience and appropriate for a textbook. * Graham Burkhart, Wesley and Methodist Studies *Jacob Arminius is a notable achievement, the fruit of careful historical work. * David C. Cramer, Trinity Journal *Table of ContentsAbbreviations ; Chronology ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: The Making of a Theologian ; Chapter 2: God and Creation ; Chapter 3: Providence and Predestination ; Chapter 4: Sin and Salvation ; Conclusion ; Appendix ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThis book examines Christian ethnographic writing about the Jews in early modern Europe, offering a systematic historical analysis of this literary genre and arguing its importance for better understanding both the period in general and Jewish-Christian relations in particular. The book focuses on nearly 80 texts from Western Europe (mostly Germany) that describe the customs and ceremonies of the contemporary Jews, containing both descriptions and illustrations of their subjects. Deutsch is one of the first scholars to study these unique writings in extensive detail. He examines books in which Christian authors describe Jewish life and provides new interpretations of Christian perceptions of Jews, Christian Hebraism, and the attention paid by the Hebraist to contemporary Jews and Judaism. Since many of the authors were converts, studying their books offers new insights into conversion during the period. Their work presents new perspectives the study of religion, developments in the fieTrade ReviewDeutsch s careful work makes a significant contribution to the cultural and intellectual history of early modern Europe and to the history of Jewish-Christian relations. His survey of the landscape will enable other historians to offer new case studies and make better use of this literature as sources in their research. His effort to accentuate the more neutral tone and more realistic depictions that characterize some of this literature moves beyond a methodological contribution and offers new possibilities for understanding the place of Jews and Judaism in early modernity. * Marginalia *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Chapter 1: A Survey of the Ethnographic Accounts about the Jews ; Chapter 2: May the Lord Make You My Atonement - Yom Kippur in the Ethnographic Accounts on the Jews ; Chapter 3: Admit Him into the Covenant of Abraham? Circumcision and Other Birth Rituals ; Chapter 4: Gorging and Carousing: Accounts on Jewish Dietary Guidelines and Eating Habits ; Chapter 5: An Overview of the Ethnographic Writing about the Jews ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAugustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) was regarded by sixteenth century Europe as one of the most contested religious and philosophical authorities. He was cast as a characteristically Lutheran, Catholic, or Calvinist thinker, and even as the ideal Erasmian pastor. These wildly contrasting receptions raise crucial questions about the significance of Augustine''s thought in the Reformation period. They also show the complex relationship between religious change and the new intellectual culture of Renaissance humanism. Drawing on a variety of printed and manuscript sources, Arnoud Visser breaks new ground in three ways. He systematically grounds Augustine''s theological reception in the history of reading and the material culture of books and manuscripts. He does not confine his examination to particular confessional parties or specific geographic boundaries, but offers a cross-confessional account of Augustine''s appropriation in early modern Europe. Finally, he provides crucial insight into the nature of intellectual authority in the early modern period. Central in this study are the production, circulation and consumption of Augustine''s works. Visser examines the impact of the new art of print, the rise of humanist scholarship, and the emerging confessional divisions on Augustine''s reception. He shows how editors navigated a wealth of patristic information by using search tools and anthologies. He also explains how individual readers used their copies and how they applied their knowledge in public debates alongside other media of communication. Reading Augustine in the Reformation argues that the emerging confessional pressures did not restrict intellectual life, as has often been claimed, but promoted new scholarship.Trade ReviewVisser has produced a careful and thought-provoking study of the range of ways in which Augustines works were made available to and appropriated by theologians during the sixteenth century. * Charlotte Methuen, Journal of Theological Studies *Visser writes with admirable clarity and precision, skillfully alternating syntheses, analyses and many fascinating examples. In 136 pages, he covers an impressive amount of printed material which he has ordered usefully and imaginatively, each section providing an argument of its own towards his conclusions. This case study offers a model for further research in the field. * Monique Cuany, Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance *Visser raises a host of generally fascinating ideas and comments on them in ways that are at once intriguing and important. ... Visser's work will undoubtedly leave its mark on all who study Reformation thought. For this it is deserving of enormous praise. ... In conclusion, Visser's study is very good. * Jon Balserak, The Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations ; List of Figures ; Introduction ; Part 1: Production ; Chapter 1. The Arrival of the Printing Press ; Chapter 2. Humanist Scholarship and Editorial Guidance ; Chapter 3. Augustine after Trent ; Part 2: Dissemination ; Chapter 4. How to Find the Right Argument: Bibliographies and Indexes ; Chapter 5. Customizing Authority: Anthologies and Epitomes ; Part 3: Consumption ; Chapter 6. How Readers Read Their Augustines ; Chapter 7. Patristics and Public Debate ; Epilogue ; Appendix: Opera omnia editions of Augustine 1500-1620 ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn relative terms, intellectual history is currently enjoying a moment of prominence and self-confidence greater than it has known in decades. Yet surprisingly for a field whose practitioners pride themselves on intellectual self-awareness, its star may have risen along with a decline in self-reflection. Few recent theoretical statements have attempted to justify intellectual history, to explain what makes its practice worthwhile and methodologically sound. This situation is ironic. The time of bitter and divisive disputes about the place of intellectual history in the humanities may be a living memory, but it is an improbably distant one. Everyone seems to be getting along these days: intellectual historians with other kinds of historians, and intellectual historians with one another. Yet only a generation ago, the field was faced with marginalization - if not extinction - by powerful external forces, which imposed a kind of exile, prompting a period of intense theoretical self-examinTrade ReviewThis rich collection of articles explores the relatively recent past of the intellectual history of modern Europe in intriguing ways.... All of the authors are intellectually engaged with what intellectual history offers, intrigued by its future prospects, and aware of possible pitfalls of applying their proposals uncritically....This collection documents a field in an exciting state of evolution with many intriguing paths open to scholars and will be invaluable for anyone interested in understanding the current state of intellectual history. Many scholars will doubtless appreciate the clear paths through recent historiography of the various themes and sub-disciplines this collection treats. They will find a guide, a bibliography, and a thoughtful analysis of topics they might wish to pursue in their own work. * Kathleen Wellman, H-France *Provocative.... This volume challenges readers to think broadly and critically about historical knowledge, but it also shows specifically how a new generation of intellectual historians is revitalizing an eclectic sub-discipline that never stays the same and never disappears. * Canadian Journal of History *At the crossroads of many disciplines, intellectual history has emerged as a vital stimulus to the humanities as a whole. Shedding the residues of cultural condescension, European intellectual history in particular has come to be an endlessly renewable resource for creative thinking across the globe. As this lively volume amply demonstrates, it has a bright future in the hands of a new generation of gifted practitioners. * Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley *Over thirty years have passed since the last major attempt to reassess the field of modern European intellectual history. In light of the seeming eclipse of some orientations (such as Marxism), the reformulation of others (such as psychoanalysis), and the newer turns in the field (from the linguistic to the postsecular and the global), the time is certainly ripe for a new assessment. This volume will hold a key place in further efforts to 'rethink' the field both as a collection of significant contributions and as a focal point for constructive, critical debate. * Dominick LaCapra, Cornell University *The study of modern intellectual history is gripped by the paradoxes of success. While scholarship in this area has flourished over the past generation, it has become so sprawling an enterprise that its very identity is in question. Perfectly timed to address the growing need for self-reflection in the field, Rethinking Modern European Intellectual History provides at once a map of the discipline, a meditation on its history, and a provocation to new thinking and writing on the history of European ideas. This collection is sure to become a landmark, not just for European intellectual historians, but for anyone with an interest in the history of ideas. * Joel Isaac, author of Working Knowledge: Making the Human Sciences from Parsons to Kuhn *a superb collection ... The power of this book as a whole is to clarify the critical impact intellectual history can have on varied fields of inquiry and its centrality to historiography. The volume demonstrates elegantly that intellectual history remains an effective tool against disciplinary quiescence. * Carolyn J. Dean, American Historical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Contributors ; Introduction: Interim Intellectual History Darrin M. McMahon and Samuel Moyn ; 1. The Return of the History of Ideas? Darrin M. McMahon ; 2. Contextualism and Criticism in the History of Ideas Peter E. Gordon ; 3. Does Intellectual History Exist in France?: The Chronicle of a Renaissance Foretold ; Antoine Lilti ; 4. On Conceptual History Jan-Werner Muller ; 5. Scandalous Relations: Supplementing Intellectual and Cultural History Judith Surkis ; 6. Imaginary Intellectual History Samuel Moyn ; 7. Has the History of the Disciplines Had Its Day? Suzanne Marchand ; 8. Cosmologies Materialized: History of Science and History of Ideas John Tresch ; 9. Decentering Sex: Reflections on Freud, Foucault, and Subjectivity in Intellectual History Tracie Matysik ; 10. Can we see ideas? On Evocation, Experience, and Empathy Marci Shore ; 11. The Space of Intellect and the Intellect of Space John Randolph ; 12. The International Turn in Intellectual History David Armitage ; 13. Global Intellectual History and the Indian Political Shruti Kapila ; 14. Intellectual History and the Interdisciplinary Ideal Warren Breckman

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Book SynopsisJohn Owen was a leading theologian in 17th-century England. As vice-chancellor of Oxford University, he was a man of immense intellectual and cultural significance. Through his association with Oliver Cromwell in particular, he exercised considerable influence on central government, and became the premier religious statesman of the Interregnum. The restoration of the monarchy pushed Owen into dissent, criminalizing his religious practice and inspiring his writings in defense of high Calvinism and religious toleration. But Owen transcended his many experiences of defeat, and his claims to quietism were frequently undermined by rumors of his involvement in anti-government conspiracies.Crawford Gribben''s biography documents Owen''s interactions with the intellectual and print cultures of his social, political and religious environments; its narrative is structured around Owen''s own publications. In contrast to the current scholarly consensus, this book emphasizes Owen''s importance as a controversial theologian deeply involved with his social and political environment. Far from personifying the Reformed tradition, he helped to undermine it, offering an individualist account of Christian faith which downplayed the significance of the Church''s means of grace. His work contributed to the formation of the new religious movement known as evangelicalism, where his influence still can be seen today.Trade ReviewGribben pays careful attention to the research, writing, publication, dissemination, reception, and defence of many of Owen's key works. * Matthew Rowley, Churchman *Gribben has done a remarkable job in weaving together evidence from Owen's life and writings to present a vibrant portrait of his personal and intellectual character. * Mark Burden, The Seventeenth Century *This is the most thorough treatment of Owen's life yet, drawing on a variety of sources. * Glenn Moots, Anglican and Episcopal History *Engaging, quotable, scholarly, exemplary -- these four words summarise Gribben's fine biography of John Owen. This book belongs in the libraries of universities and theological coleges as well as in the hands of any serious student of Owen or the Puritans. * T. J. Marinello, European Journal of Theology *a detailed, careful analysis * English Churchman *Crawford Gribben has produced a fluent biography of a difficult historical figure. John Owen and English Puritanism provides an accessible and thorough starting point for any study of John Owen and his milieu * Dr Elliot Vernon, Reviews in History *Gribbens work makes a gripping and interesting narrative. * Ryan M. McGraw, Westminster Theological Journal *For most contemporary English-speaking Calvinists, John Owen is an unending source of wisdom and inspiration... Gribben gives even better reasons for esteeming Owen than those that prevail in Calvinist circles. Such theological insight forged in a context of political intrigue and personal adversity make Owen truly exceptional. * Darryl G. Hart, Ordained Servant *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1) Apprentice puritan 2) Emerging theologian 3) Frustrated pastor 4) Army preacher 5) Oxford reformer 6) Cromwellian courtier 7) Defeated revolutionary 8) Restoration politique 9) Nonconformist divine Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisShanghai Sanctuary assesses the plight of the European Jewish refugees who fled to Japanese-occupied China during World War II. This book is the first major study to examine the Nationalist government''s policy towards the Jewish refugee issue and the most thorough and subtle analysis of Japanese diplomacy concerning this matter. Gao demonstrates that the story of the wartime Shanghai Jews is not merely a sidebar to the history of modern China or modern Japan. She illuminates how the Jewish issue complicated the relationships among China, Japan, Germany, and the United States before and during World War II. Her groundbreaking research provides an important contribution to international history and the history of the Holocaust. Chinese Nationalist government and the Japanese occupation authorities thought very carefully about the Shanghai Jews and how they could be used to win international financial and political support in their war against one another. The Holocaust had complicated rTrade ReviewGao Bei paints a fascinatingly intricate picture of the political forces and fluxes which ultimately contributed to the arrival of these Jewish refugees in Shanghai. ... The author has a keen eye for detail and also provides the reader with an elaborate overview of various Chinese and Japanese personalities who directly and indirectly facilitated the entry of these Jewish refugees into Shanghai. * Felicia Yep, Journal of JRAS *Gao offers a valuable contribution to the field in for the first time presenting a synopsis of both the Chinese and Japanese policies towards Jewish refugees * Thoralf Klein, Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, London *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Chinese and Japanese Perceptions of the Jews ; Chapter 2: The Chinese Nationalist Government and the Shanghai Jewish Refugees ; Chapter 3: Yasue Norihiro, Inuzuka Koreshige, and Japan's Policy toward the Shanghai Jewish Refugees, December 1937- December 1939 ; Chapter 4: The Tripartite Pact and Japan's Policy toward the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Issue, January 1940-August 1945 ; Epilogue: The European Jewish Refugees and Shanghai ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisSince 1918, Czechoslovakia has been known as East-Central Europe''s most devoted democracy, an outpost of Western values in the East. While the country has had more democratic experience than its neighbors, this book argues that the claim that Czechs are native democrats, devoted to liberal ideas, emerged from nationalist myth. Battle for the Castle tells the story of that myth''s creation during the First World War, used to persuade the Great Powers to create Czechoslovakia out of pieces of Austria-Hungary. Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, the two academics crafting the myth and employing it for wartime propaganda, became Czechoslovakia''s first president and prime minister. They tried to use the myth to outmaneuver political opponents at home and Czechoslovakia''s enemies abroad. Those enemies, and the European Great Powers, also conducted their own propaganda campaigns targeting Czechoslovakia as a symbol of the postwar order. At home, while proclaiming themselves the protectors of Trade Reviewfinely researched ... an erudite deconstruction of political myths deliberately created and manipulated for the political end of building a nationâs identity, reputation and power abroad among influential westerners. * Cathleen Giustino, European History Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Golden Republic ; Chapter One Myth and Wartime ; Chapter Two The Castle ; Chapter Three Battles of the Legend-Makers ; Chapter Four Difficulties Abroad ; Chapter Five A Time of Iron and Fire ; Epilogue ; Abbreviations and Definitions ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe French Religious Protectorate was an institutionalized and enduring policy of the French government, based on a claim by the French state to be guardian of all Catholics in China. The expansive nature of the Protectorate''s claim across nationalities elicited opposition from official and ordinary Chinese, other foreign countries, and even the pope. Yet French authorities believed their Protectorate was essential to their political prominence in the country. This book examines the dynamics of the French policy, the supporting role played in it by ecclesiastical authority, and its function in embittering Sino-foreign relations.In the 1910s, the dissidence of some missionaries and Chinese Catholics introduced turmoil inside the church itself. The rebels viewed the link between French power and the foreign-run church as prejudicial to the evangelistic project. The issue came into the open in 1916, when French authorities seized territory in the city of Tianjin on the grounds of protectTrade ReviewErnest P. Youngâs long-awaited study is[...] an important contribution in English to the study of the Catholic Church in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China. In addition to a thoroughly researched history of the controversial French Religious Protectorate, it also provides an insightful discussion of important Chinese contextual considerations [...] In his carefully constructed and eminently accessible presentations, Young helpfully explains Catholic terminology * R.G. Tiedemann, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Specialized Terms and Acronyms ; Introduction ; Chapter 1. The Emergence of the French Religious Protectorate ; Chapter 2. Church and Protectorate Under the Treaties ; Chapter 3. Defending the Protectorate in the Late Nineteenth Century ; Chapter 4. Collecting Indemnities and Enduring Criticism ; Chapter 5. The Complexities of Jiao'an in the Early Twentieth Century: Sichuan and Jiangxi ; Chapter 6. Reform Agendas for the Missions ; Chapter 7. Dissidence and Catholic Patriotism in Tianjin ; Chapter 8. Petitioning Rome ; Chapter 9. The Vatican Engages and Catholics in China Respond ; Chapter 10. The Papacy's New China Policy ; Chapter 11. Falling Short ; Notes ; Glossary ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisA vital instrument of power, telecommunications is and has always been a political technology. In this book, Headrick examines the political history of telecommunications from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of World War II. He argues that this technology gave society new options. In times of peace, the telegraph and radio were, as many predicted, instruments of peace; in times of tension, they became instruments of politics, tools for rival interests, and weapons of war. Writing in a lively, accessible style, Headrick illuminates the political aspects of information technology, showing how in both World Wars, the use of radio led to a shadowy war of disinformation, cryptography, and communications intelligence, with decisive consequences.Trade ReviewA mine of useful information for communication researchers....The data presented here represent a major contribution to the field and will be of immense value to scholars interested in the historical linkages between mass media and communication technology .A refreshing-and relativizing-historical perspective. * Journal of Communication *Table of ContentsContents ; 1 Telecommunications and International Relations ; Characteristics of Electrical Communications ; Telecommunications and World History ; International Telecommunications as a Field of Study ; 2 New Technology ; Origins of the Telegraph ; International Telegraphic Cooperation ; The First Submarine Telegraph Cables ; The Mediterranean Cables ; The First Atlantic Cables ; The Red Sea Cable ; Telegraphs to India ; Conclusion ; 3 The Expansion of the World Cable Network, 1866-1895 ; The Technology of Cables ; The Atlantic Cables ; The Cable Companies ; Cables to India and Australia ; Cable Rivalries in the West Indies and Latin America ; Across Russia to Japan ; Commercial Codes and the International Telegraph Union ; Conclusion ; 4 Telegraphy and Imperialism in the Late Nineteenth Century ; The Telegraph in India ; The Telegraph in Indochina ; Cables and News in the French West Indies ; The Telegraph in China ; The East African Cables ; The West African Cables ; Cables and Colonial Control ; Conclusion ; 5 Crisis at the Turn of the Century, 1895-1901 ; Telegraphy and Diplomacy ; British Cable Strategy to 1898 ; Telegraphic Delays and French Imperialism ; Germany and the Azores Affair ; The Spanish-American War ; The Fashoda Incident ; The British Strategic Cable Report of 1898 ; The Boer War ; 6 The Great Powers and the Cable Crisis, 1900-1913 ; The British Pacific Cable and the "All-Red" Routes ; British Cable Strategy, 1902-1914 ; The American Cables ; France and the Cable Crisis ; Germany and the Cable Crisis ; Conclusion ; 7 The Beginnings of Radio, 1895-1914 ; Marconi and the Birth of Wireless Telegraphy ; The Marconi Monopoly and the Reaction of the Powers ; Technological Change and Commercial Rivalries ; The U.S. Navy and Radio to 1908 ; The Continuous Ware, 1908-1914 ; French Colonial Wireless ; German Long-Distance and Colonial Radio ; The British Imperial Wireless Chain ; Conclusion ; 8 Cables and Radio in World War I ; The Jitters of July 1914 ; Allied Attacks on German Communications ; German Attacks on Allied Communications ; Allied Communications during the War ; Censorship ; Propaganda ; Conclusion ; 9 Communications Intelligence in World War I ; Government Cryptology before 1914 ; Communications Intelligence on Land ; British Naval Interception and Direction-Finding ; German Codes and British Cryptanalysis in 1914 ; British Naval Intelligence, 1915-1916 ; The U-Boat War, 1917-1918 ; German Communications Intelligence ; The Zimmerman Telegram ; 10 Conflicts and Settlements, 1919-1923 ; The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 ; The Washington Conferences of 1920-1922 ; The Struggle over Cables to Latin America ; The Radio Corporation of America ; British Radio, 1919~1924 ; German and French Radio to 1924 ; Radio in Latin America and China ; Conclusion ; 11 Technological Upheavals and Commercial Rivalries, 1924-1939 ; The Distribution of Cables in the World in 1923 ; Cable Technology in the 1920s ; The New Cables, 1924-1929 ; ITT and the Telephones ; The British Reaction ; French Colonial Shortwave ; The International Impact of Shortwave ; The British Communications Merger ; Responses to the British Merger ; The British Dilemma: Profits versus Security ; Conclusion ; 12 Communications Intelligence in World War II ; British and German Communications Intelligence to 1936 ; Cipher Machines ; The Approach of War, 1936-1939 ; The Outbreak of War, 1939-1940 ; British Communications Intelligence in Wartime ; German Communications Intelligence in Wartime ; The Battles of Britain and North Africa ; German Spies and Allied Radio Deception ; Funkspiele, Resistance, and the Normandy Landing ; The Soviet Rings ; Conclusion ; 13 The War at Sea ; The Cable War ; Communications and Naval Warfare in the Atlantic ; The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1944 ; American Communications Intelligence before Pearl Harbor ; From Pearl Harbor to Midway ; After Midway ; 14 The Changing of the Guard ; The American Expansion ; Strategic Cables to North Africa and Europe ; The Retreat of Britain ; The Organization of Postwar Communications ; Conclusion ; 15 Telecommunications, Information, and Security ; Bibliography Essay ; Books on Submarine Telegraph Cables ; Books on Radio and Telecommunications ; Communications Intelligence ; Primary Sources ; Index

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Book Synopsis.Trade ReviewAberth's book will be a useful guide for a new generation of students, born after AIDS cocktails made that disease more or less controllable in the mid-1990s and who are now grappling for the first time with what pandemics do to societies Whether upcoming generations adopt the "silver linings" optimism about pandemics Aberth espouses here remains to be seen. But Oxford University Press has served them well in providing this affordable and comprehensive volume. * Monica H. Green, Speculum *Aberth's clearly written book isâhighly recommended. * J.P. Byrne, emeritus, Belmont University, CHOICE *John Aberth is absolutely right that it is time for a new volume on this topic, and he seems to cover all the bases here. The prose is simultaneously expert and crystal-clear * a pleasure to read. Aberth moves easily from the historical to the scientific and back and forth between complex historiographical models in a way that even new undergraduates should be able to grasp.Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane, University of Minnesota, Morris *I love Alberth's approach to history; he covers social aspects, cultural aspects, and critical interpretation. Aberth is very good at walking students through his thinking; they will really learn about historical argument construction and the use of source evidence by reading his book. * Michael Sizer, Maryland Institute College of Art *Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Images List of Maps List of Tables About the Author Acknowledgments Preface. What was the Black Death? The Evolution and Epidemiology of Plague The Three Pandemics of Plague Paleomicrobiology Identifies the Black Death as Plague 1. "It Began in the Land of Darkness": The Geographical Origin and Spread of the Second Pandemic Where Did the Black Death Begin? How Did the Black Death Spread? Mapping the Black Death 2. Bring Out Your Dead! How Many People Died during the Great Mortality? How the Black Death Raised the Mortality Ante Plague Mortality, 1347-1353 Plague Mortality, 1353-c.1500 Why Did the Black Death End? Was the Black Death Indiscriminate? The Personal Side of Plague Mortality 3. Doctoring the Black Death: The Medical Response to Plague Causes Signs Prevention Cure The Verdict on Medieval Medicine 4. What Goes Around Comes Around: Environmental Aspects of the Black Death Environmental Causes and Signs of Plague Fear of Stenches Environmental Factors Affecting Plague Vectors: Climate Environmental Factors Affecting Plague Hosts: Rats and Housing 5. "Al Shal [Not] Be Wel": The Religious Response to the Great Mortality Spirituality and Piety in the Wake of the Plague Islam's Response to the Black Death The Problem of Post-Plague Parish Poverty Towards a Reformation? 6. "To Yow Myn Hand is Rawght to this Daunce": The Artistic Impact of the Black Death Painted Depictions of Plague The Plague Saints The Macabre or Memento Mori Physical Impacts of Plague 7. The "Red Knights of Christ": The Flagellant Movement The Flagellant Itinerary The Flagellant Ritual Perspectives on the Flagellants The Flagellants' Suppression 18. "They Processed to the Flames Dancing, Singing, and Weeping": The Artificial Poison Conspiracy First Stirrings in Southern France The Conspiracy in Catalonia The Poisoned Springs of the Savoy The Great Massacres of the Kingdom of Germany The Persecuted and Their Persecutors Aftermath of the Conspiracy 9. When Brothers Abandoned Brothers: The Social Impacts of the Black Death Fear of Being Abandoned Fear of Being Forgotten Fear of Being Unshriven Plague and the Poor 10. The Peasants are Revolting! The New Realities of the Plague Economy The Plague Economy Was There Economic Recovery After the Black Death? A Golden Age of the Laborer? The Decline of Serfdom The Peasant Land Market A Time of Transition? Epilogue. Could the Black Death Happen Again (and Would We Want It To)? Lessons to be Learned in the Modern World Appendix: The Plague Denial Controversy Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe Roman Catholic leadership still refuses to ordain women officially or even to recognize that women are capable of ordination. But is the widely held assumption that women have always been excluded from such roles historically accurate?In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were in fact ordained into several ministries. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the eleventh and twelfth centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women''s ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the earlier concept of ordination was almost completely erased. The ordination of women, either in the present or in the past, became unthinkable.References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars still hold that women, particularly in the western church, were never really ordained. A survey of the literature reveals that most scholars use a definition of ordination that would have been unknown in the early middle ages. Thus, the modern determination that women were never ordained, Macy argues, is a premise based on false terms.Not a work of advocacy, this important book applies indispensable historical background for the ongoing debate about women''s ordination.Trade ReviewHere is a truly groundbreaking book, essential reading for anyone interested in the complex story of how the ministry of women has been valued (and devalued) within the Christian church. Gary Macy convincingly demonstrates that in the early church women were ordained into various roles, but in the eleventh and twelfth centuries a new definition of ordination was rigorously applied, which served to exclude them. This study is of crucial importance not only for an understanding of the development of medieval Christianity but also for the material it brings to contemporary debate on the ordination of women. * Alistair Minnis, Yale University *Table of ContentsAbbreviations ; 1. The State of the Question ; 2. What Did Ordination Mean? ; 3. The Ministry of Ordained Women ; 4. Defining Women Out of Ordination ; 5. Conclusion ; Historical and Theological Postscript ; Appendix 1: Prayers and Rites for the Ordination of a Deaconess ; Appendix 2: Ordination Rites for Abbesses from the Early Middle Ages ; Notes ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe ancient Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu admonished his generals to Know thy enemy. The question has always been how to do that. Too often military leaders have relied on simplistic methods for predicting the behavior of their adversaries-with disastrous results. In A Sense of the Enemy, Zachary Shore argues that successful leaders employ what he calls strategic empathy, an ability to empathize with their opponents in order to anticipate how they will act. Wise leaders do not assume that rivals will act as they themselves would, but instead try to see into the unique internal constraints and drivers that shape an enemy''s decision processes. Such leaders look not only for patterns, but more importantly for pattern breaks, those episodes when an opponent deviates from his usual behavior in a way that imposes long-term costs upon itself. They don''t assume that past behavior always predicts future actions (the continuity error) or that opponents have an unchanging character (theTrade ReviewDeeply researched, well argued, and often convincing... Offers an intriguing and fresh interpretation of some of recent history's best-known and most important global conflicts. * Publishers Weekly *This is an important book. Shoreâs study and conclusions will prove helpful to analysts and leaders struggling to identify which information is important and which information is distracting. He makes a compelling case for develop- ing the skill of strategic empathy and, in particular, the ability to interpret breaks in previous patterns of an adversaryâs behaviour. * H.R. McMaster, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; The Conscience of an Empire ; 1. Fitting In: Some Thoughts on Scholarship, Sources, and Methods ; 2. Arming Your Enemy: Stresemann's Maneuver, Act I ; 3. Steady on the Tightrope: Stresemann's Maneuver, Act II ; 4. Stalin the Simulator: The Problem of Projected Rationality ; 5. A Rendezvous With Evil: How Roosevelt Read Hitler ; 6. Hanoi's New Foe: Le Duan Prepares for America ; 7. Counting Bodies: The Benefits of Escalation ; 8. Overdog Errors ; 9. Number Worship ; Conclusion ; Acknowledgements ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisMARKUS CERMAN is Associate Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Vienna, Austria. His previous publications include studies on European proto-industrialization and the development of the agrarian institutions in late medieval and early modern Europe in a comparative perspective.Table of ContentsList of Tables Note on References Series Editors' Preface Acknowledgements Glossary Map Understanding 'Demesne Lordship' The Myth of a 'Second Serfdom' Explaining the Rise of Demesne Lordship and of the Demesne Economy A Characterization of the Economic System A General Backwardness? Towards a New Assessment Bibliography Index.

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