A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Europe

Few periods of history have been the focus of as much research, writing and controversy in the last forty years as the eighteenth century. Historians are not even agreed on whether it can be treated as a unified period: some are partisans of a ‘short’ eighteenth century running from 1713 to the 1780s, others of a ‘long’ one stretching from either the Peace of Westphalia or the Glorious Revolution to 1815. Against this background, the appearance of a companion volume summarising the most important findings and debates about the period is very welcome. Peter Wilson has done an excellent job as editor. He has marshalled contributions from thirty distinguished scholars into an extremely comprehensive book. All the major themes of recent eighteenth-century research are covered. Economic, social, international, institutional and cultural ones are dealt with on a pan-European basis, but accompanied by a substantial section on the individual European countries. Alongside more traditional subjects, it is good to see the inclusion of newer ones that have more recently begun to flourish, such as the history of participatory politics and of the court. Although the authors are mainly Anglo-American, they still represent a significant geographical spread, with an impressive contingent of German and Scandinavian scholars

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