HIST 242: Early Modern Europe
Spring 2003
Recommended textbooks
If you do not have a basic understanding of the Early Modern period in Europe, you should make sure to study one of the following books as soon as possible. You will get more out of the assigned readings if you know the basic “story” of the period.
I highly recommend any of the following:
Cameron, Euan, ed. Early Modern Europe: an Oxford History. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Koenigsberger, H. G. Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789 (1987)
Merriman, J. A History of Modern Europe, Vol. 1: from the Renaissance to the Age of Napoleon (1996)
If you cannot locate one of the above, read one of the following. They are not as good as textbooks that deal exclusively with the period, but are better than nothing. Any textbook on Western Civilization in general will suffice, although these give only a partial view of the period.
Mortimer Chambers et al., The Western Experience, vol. B, The Early Modern Era, 8th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2003).
Kagan, et al., The Western Heritage, 1300-1815 (6th ed), vol. B
Remember: The story may vary slightly from one textbook to the next, as each one bases its facts on the research of different scholars. However, the broad sweep of the period will be fundamentally the same. I recommend that you prepare "cheat sheets" to keep all the information in some semblance of order - make an "annotated" timetable, including the most important "players", places, wars, treaties, etc. Also helpful will be to prepare a short description, in your own words, of the periods within the Early Modern - in other words, compile the textbook version of the broad characteristics of the Renaissance, Reformation, State Formation, etc.