The Foundations of Early Modern Europe 1460-1559 (The Norton History of Modern Europe)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent in Scope and understaning: Great Indroduction
Review: Eugene Rice has summed up the age of reformation very well in this book. It is very readable and quite scholarly considering the broad scope of time and place the author covers in this work. This work provides a great introduction to the subject in a couple hundred pages of relatively easy reading. Before reading deep into Luther or Charles V, begin to read primary sources of the age, or even read fiction like Dan Brown's "Davinci Code", it makes sense to get some introductory material. This book covers that subject well.

Taking the period from all angles, Rice describes lifestyles of all economic strata while also explaining the cultural shifts of Humanism and the rise of the early modern state. He also explains in great clarity the factors that brought reformation about. I appreciate the fact that he also discusses other protestants and why they did not stick tightly to Luther's views. Further, Rice organizes this book in a way that makes it very accessible to someone who doesn't want to read the work from cover to cover.

Overall this is really an excellent work that I recommend highly to all students and to anyone who wants to learn about our past. The books provides a great read without oversimplifying issues like William Manchester's "A World Lit Only B Fire". I think after reading you will agree this book opens the door and sheds light on the early modern era nicely.

-- Ted Murena

Rating:
Summary: Succinct yet insightful, scholarly yet readable. A classic.
Review: Rice's work is a superb short survey of the technology and ideas that created our modern world. Despite the high level of scholarship, the text is eminently readable with a graceful, lucid style that successfully walks the tightrope of summarizing without oversimplifying. The chapter on the impact of the invention of printing is alone worth the price of the book. Excellent illustrations and maps throughout, and the typeface is exquisite. I read this book twenty years ago for a college history course and recently reread it in the second edition. An unparalleled account of the early modern period and undoubtedly on its way to becoming a modern classic.