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josh_paul's review against another edition
4.0
A very nicely done survey: heavy on facts and light on theory, just the way I like my history.
marneduke's review against another edition
3.0
The only real thing wrong with the book is the title, and that it leads you to believe that you are going to read about the 5 major European revolutions. But you don't, rather 500+ pages of setting the scene and then maybe 200 pages about the revolutions.
joshisreading's review
5.0
I found this book to be comprehensive and a pleasant read. I appreciated the non-chronological subject matter style of this book- it makes it easy to put down and come back to, which is key for book of this length and density. It is not, however, so dry as to be unenjoyable or boring. This was my first in the Penguin series, so I am looking forward to exploring the others now.
sarah_dietrich's review against another edition
3.0
Some sections were great, others I didn't enjoy.
julis's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
I had to check amazon for what the 5 revolutions were (scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic, apparently but in terms of dedicated page-space I would substitute the Glorious Revolution for the American one) because really what Blanning is writing is a social history from the Treaty of Westphalia to Waterloo.
Which again! Fine! Beginning to suspect that historians write the book and then pull a title from a hat.
EXTREMELY fun. Blanning has a hell of a lot of opinions and he wants to share ALL OF THEM. EXTREMELY comprehensive. Thorough. Would you like to know about hunting rituals in the HRE in the 1700s? Great, this is a good book for you.
Lost a point for, collectively: Has a bibliography but no proper footnotes (boo), generally lackadaisical treatment of Jews, Muslims, and POC, occasionally his snark reaches the level that I had to check to be sure he’s not now writing opinion pieces for the Tories.
zmb's review
4.0
A really good history of more than just kings and international politics during the time period. Those come last; mostly what is explored is what people - well, often aristocrats, but sometimes ordinary people - were up to, and how their lives changed. The author's wit and choice quotations make this long book a joy to read, even when talking about road statistics, or the fox-tossing habits of minor German nobles.
With that said, there are some odd decisions. There aren't any footnotes, so while often some other historian is quoted, it's not clear from what. (There is a good further reading section, but that's not quite the same thing.) The Ottomans are not treated as a European state; the only time we see them is when they are on the other side of a war with the Habsburgs or Russia. More understandably, it's only the big guys that get a lot of the treatment - England, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, with just a bit of Sweden, Poland, and Spain thrown in.
With that said, there are some odd decisions. There aren't any footnotes, so while often some other historian is quoted, it's not clear from what. (There is a good further reading section, but that's not quite the same thing.) The Ottomans are not treated as a European state; the only time we see them is when they are on the other side of a war with the Habsburgs or Russia. More understandably, it's only the big guys that get a lot of the treatment - England, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, with just a bit of Sweden, Poland, and Spain thrown in.