The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions That Made Modern Europe 1648-1815

by Tim Blanning, David Cannadine (Editor)

Overview

"History writing at its glorious best."—The New York Times

"A triumphant success. [Blanning] brings knowledge, expertise, sound judgment and a colorful narrative style."—The Economist

The New York Times bestselling volume in the Penguin History of Europe series

Between the end of the Thirty Years' War and the Battle of Waterloo, Europe underwent an extraordinary transformatoin that saw five of the modern world's great revolutions—scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic. In this much-admired addition to the monumental Penguin History of Europe series, Tim Blanning brilliantly investigates the forces that transformed Europe from a medieval society into a vigorous powerhose of the modern world. Blanning renders this vast subject immediate and absorbing by making fresh connections between the most mundane details of life and the major cultural, political, and technological transformations that birthed the modern age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143113898
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/27/2008
Series:	The Penguin History of Europe
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	752
Sales rank:	365,832
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Tim Blanning is professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, and the author and editor of numerour books on European history. He appears regularly on BBC Radio in England.

Table of Contents

The Pursuit of Glory
List of Illustrations
Maps
1. Europe in the era of Louis XIV
2. Europe in the eighteenth century
3. Europe in 1809
4. Europe in 1815
5. The Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy in the eighteenth century
Preface
Introduction

Part One: Life and Death

1. Communications
2. People
3. Trade and Manufacturing
4. Agriculture and the Rural World

Part Two: Power

5. Rulers and Their Elites
6. Reform and Revolution

Part Three: Religion and Culture

7. Religion and the Churches
8. Court and Country
9. Palaces and Gardens
10. The Culture of Feeling and the Culture of Reason

Part Four: War and Peace

11. From the Peace of Westphalia to the Peace of Nystad
12. From the Peace of Nystad to the French Revolutionary Wars
13. The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon

Conclusion
Suggested Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

"...the period between these two dates is the very hinge of European history. It is no small accomplishment to cover so vast a subject adequately in a single volume. But Tim Blanning, a professor of modern history at Cambridge and a fellow of the British Academy, not only does so, he also triumphs at it. The Pursuit of Glory, at 708 pages, is not a short read, but it is so well written that for those who love history, it is a page turner."
—The New York Times

John Steele Gordon

Magnificent. Exhilarating. [Blanning has] the acuity of vision to focus on the particular without ever needing to sacrifice the broader perspective.

Sunday Times (London)

History writing at its glorious best.

New York Times

A triumphant success. [Blanning] brings knowledge, experience, sound judgment, and a colorful narrative style.

Economist

This new volume in the Penguin History of Europe series is a wonderful achievement, particularly so considering the mammoth amount of specialist material that required synthesizing into digestible portions for general consumption. Blanning, professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge, has performed the miracle of balancing and blending traditional political and diplomatic accounts with the newer fields of social, economic and intellectual history. A prime example of this is the author's treatment of the impact of the new "public sphere." As people discoursed through coffeehouses, Masonic organizations or periodicals, "a new source of authority emerged to challenge the opinion-makers of the old regime: public opinion." Countries where this public sphere was left free, as in Britain or the Dutch Republic, tended to be more politically stable than, say, France, where suppression ended in bloody revolution. Blanning narrates the story of Europe from the end of the Thirty Years' War to the end of the Napoleonic wars, when secularization and the primacy of state sovereignty were recognized as the key attributes of the coming era. What the Europeans would eventually get was the secular, martial religion of nationalism. But this is the subject for a subsequent volume—which will be hard-pressed to match this splendid one. (June 4)

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Publishers Weekly

Blanning (modern history, Cambridge) gives us a broad approach to European history, covering not only the traditional topics of war, diplomacy, and kings but also other interesting issues, such as transportation, marriage, law, and recreation. Since he writes well, making complex issues understandable and ably conveying what it was like to live during these epochs, this book will be a good resource for undergraduates and interested lay readers. Graduate students likewise will find Blanning's extensive discussions of historiography rewarding. The book does, however, suffer from a little "high history" during which the focus on everyday life becomes hard to find. For example, when Banning covers the Napoleonic Wars, he mentions little of how ordinary people were affected. He does, however, indicate the extent and depth of material confronting a historian (e.g., with a suggested reading section) and overall succeeds in conveying both social topics and the topics of traditional history. Recommended for larger public and all academic libraries.
—Bryan Craig

Library Journal