Suggested Readings

Bonny, Richard. The European Dynastic States 1494-1660 (1991). A comprehensive study of European states during the early modern period.

Ertmann, Thomas. The Birth of th Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Early Modern Europe (1997). Provides an explanation of the different patterns of state-building in European countries.

Henshall Nicholas. The Myth of Absolutism: Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy (1992). Calls into question many traditional ideas regarding absolutism, especially with respect to England and France.

Parker, Geoffrey. The Military Revolution (1988). Deals with the impact of the military revolution on world as well as European history.

Rabb, Theodore K. The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe (1975). Employs visual as well as political sources to illustrate the way in which Europeans responded to the general crisis of the seventeenth century.

Beik, William. Louis XIV and Absolutism: A Brief Study with Documents (2000). An excellent collection of documents.

Collins, James B. The State in Early Modern France (1995). The best general study of the French state.

Elliott, J. H. Richelieu and Olivares (1984). A comparison of the two contemporary absolutist ministers and state-builders in France and Spain.

Parker, David. The Making of French Absolutism (1983). A particularly good treatment of the early seventeenth century.

Ranum, Orest. The Fronde: A French Revolution 1648-1652 (1993). A good narrative history of this episode.

Evans, R. J. W. The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550-1700 (1979). The best treatment of developments in Austria.

Hughes, Lindsey. Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (1998). A comprehensive study of politics, diplomacy, society, and culture during the reign of the "Tsar Reformer."

Wilson, Peter H. Absolutism in Central Europe (2000). Analyzes both the theory and the practice of absolutism in Prussia and Austria.

Aylmer, G. E. Rebellion or Revolution (1986). A study of the nature of the political disturbances of the 1640s and 1650s.

Gaunt, Peter. Oliver Cromwell (1997). A balanced assessment of the complex and conflicted Puritan revolutionary leader.

Harris, Tim. Politics under the Later Stuarts (1993). The best study of Restoration politics, including the Glorious Revolution.

Israel, Jonathan, The Dutch Republic, Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477-1806 (1996). A massive and authoritative study of the Dutch Republic during the period of its greatest global influence.

Schama, Simon. The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (1987). Contains a wealth of commentary on Dutch art and culture during its most influential period.