Urban Europe 1500-1700

by Alexander Cowan

Examining the nature and diversity of urban life during the 16th and 17th centuries-- a period of considerable economic, political and social change-- this text stresses the extent to which towns remained distinct from their rural hinterlands.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 25, 1998

Reviews

[Jiang Qin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a preliminary outline of the development of Europe cities in 1500-1700, spanning economies, law, social elite, family structure, to fortitudes.
It’s quite informative of the early human urbanism. Those old days, how hard it was is reflected in how many connections they share.
Not only inside The expansion household, but also neighbourhood help each other, they lent money without credit just for respect. Neighbours Testimony in court for character…

In contrast, we know little about neighbours our downstairs. This makes people forget we share the same earth, and some ditch others. It may all because we don’t need others so much as in the past. But do we?

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairly comprehensive in a general way (at least for Western Europe). Most topics can definitely be elaborated on, but that's not necessary for what this book does. It might be hard to write a “better” general history of the subject, even if a comparable one with slightly different focuses is possible.

[Vysloczil]

At first, when I saw it as a highlt recommeded readed by Peter Clark's 2009 Urban history of Europe from 400 I was like "really? another book on "Urban Europe", especially with such a narrow time focus?"
The more I read into it, the more I fell in love with it. I even read the first chapter a second time before I even finished half the book (this very rarely happens for me).