A History of Modern Europe, Volume 1: From the Renaissance to the Age of Napoleon

by John M. Merriman

A classic in its field, loved by instructors and students for its narrative flair, humor, authority, and comprehensive coverage. More than 100,000 copies sold! Available in both one-volume and two-volume paperback editions, A History of Modern Europe presents a panoramic survey of modern Europe from the Renaissance to the present day. A single author lends a unified approach and consistent style throughout, with an emphasis on the connections of events and people over time.

The Third Edition, like the two before it, is authoritative and up-to-date. New to the Third Edition is the theme of empire. From the imperial rivalries between France and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, through the rise and fall of the Ottoman Turkish empire, and on into the imperial history of the twentieth century—decolonization, the spread of the Soviet empire, and the imperial power of the United States—the theme of empire helps students find commonalities among the events of European history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History, 21st Century, School, Textbooks

592 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2009

About the author

John Mustard Merriman was Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University. He earned his B.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1972) at the University of Michigan. Merriman received Yale University’s Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize in 2000, and was awarded a Docteur Honoris Causa in France in 2002, and the “Medal of Meritorious Service to Polish Education” (Medal Kimisji Edukacji Narodowej) awarded by the Ministry of Education of Poland in 2009.

Reviews

[Thais]

Spent way too much time working on this textbook not to add it to my “read” pile

[Lauren Albert]

Better and more readable than the history textbooks I remember though having some of the necessary limitations of such surveys(while 36 pages on a single topic is a lot in a book covering so much, 36 pages on Napoleon is still 36 pages on Napoleon). My one criticism is the author's jumping back and forth in time--due to his grouping sections by theme. A good survey.

[James S.]

Dry, flat, and poorly written, even for a textbook. I love history, and the early modern period in particular, so it's not like I wasn't interested in the material. It's just that Merriman is a bad writer. His sentences are all short and they all end abruptly, an effect that makes reading this book like riding a cart over a dirt road, jolting from one dip in the road to another. Furthermore, I was constantly at a loss to understand his connections between ideas, even within the same paragraph. It's like he forgot what the previous sentence was when he wrote the next one. Finally, he seems to have filed down his vocabulary until he reached a level that even very young readers would find comfortable. This makes it hard to focus on his argument, and it also seems somewhat condescending. Ultimately, I found this book to be unreadable - unfortunate not only because I spent $20 on it, but because I wanted to learn some history.

[J. Alfred]

After reviewing the evidence, I can more confidently announce that lots of things were bad at most times.
Let's all be glad that we weren't alive during, say, the Thirty Years' War. Or the Napoleonic Wars. Or when feudalism was the trendy thing.
Things seem much better now, in fact, when you consider that other things were far worse. For instance, we are literate. And we have good textbooks to read. Count your blessings, man.

[Vasile]

Could be better

[Araik]

Merriman heeft maar weinig interesse voor centraal en oost Europa, laat staan voor wat daarbuiten gebeurt. Kon in het algemeen wat bondiger.

[Rijk]

Droog als de neten maar het is dan ook een standaardwerk

[Gregory Knapp]

A fantastic introductory text book.

[Ke]

I’ve read at least to the end of chapter 6, probably more, definitely over half, and I don’t plan on finishing.

[Kara]

😮‍💨

[Charlie Mallon]

Insightful, rich but understandable, perfect for History is college which is why I read it

[Jessi]

For a text book I was rather impressed with this as a whole. The information was detailed but not overly oppressing to read like you can experience in some history text books. The knowledge was straight to the point and far from being plain and dry with detail on what was going on from the Black Death to Napoleon. Everything and anything in between these times that took place in history is in the book. It was an enjoyable read for class and I was actually looking forward to reading the assigned chapters. The only down part was the lack of information of Russia, there were bits and pieces here and there but nothing solid.

[Lisa]

A thorough account of European history from approximately the time of Martin Luther to that of Napoleon. This account primarily focuses on Western Europe (especially France) but for the broad area and time frame it is attempting to cover it does a pretty good job.

[Mohammed Galal]

Historians do the tough work of the worldmthat is investigating truth!!..The book is beyond my expectations.It actually electrified me.

[Michael]

I love his teaching and writing style.

[Tyler English]

Great info! Great read