Birn's exceptionally well-written narrative covers the century and a half that preceded the French Revolution. The first section, "An Age of Crisis and Discovery (1648-1715)," treats the period between the Peace of Westphalia and the death of Louis XIV as a time of political experimentation, colonial exploitation, hardening social lines, economic regression, and scientific advance. The second section covers the period known retrospectively as the "Ancien Régime" (1715-1789). Eighteenth-century politics are viewed as replete with confrontation and conflict; and a broadened view of the Enlightenment emphasizes the significance of print culture, while also introducing the reader to sites of sociability such as academies, salons, Masonic lodges, and coffeehouses.

This is the third edition, revised and expanded, of Crisis, Absolutism, Revolution: Europe 1648-1789, and new to it is an examination of European contact with Africa, the Americas, and South and East Asia. More attention is also paid to the slave trade, women, family life, religion, exploration, and the emergence of a civil society. It contains an index, 17 maps, and 20 illustrations.

Birn's exceptionally well-written narrative covers the century and a half that preceded the French Revolution.

List of Illustrations
Preface

Part I: An Age of Crisis and Discovery (1648-1715/26)

Chapter 1. The People, the Land, and the State

Chapter 2. The Age of Mercantilism

Chapter 3. Crisis and Resolution: the West

Chapter 4. Crisis and Resolution: the Center and the East

Chapter 5. Europe and the World

Chapter 6. The Age of Reason

PART II: An Age of Hope and Revolution (1715-1789)

Chapter 7. The People, the Land, and the State

Chapter 8. The Enlightenment

Chapter 9. The Ancien Régime Triumphant (1715-1763)

Chapter 10. The Decline and Fall of the Ancien Régime

Bibliography
Sources
Index