Bücher der Reihe Critical Issues in World and International History

In this widely praised history, noted scholar James D. Tracy offers a comprehensive, lucid, and masterful exploration of early modern Europe's key turning point. Establishing a new standard for histories of the Reformation, Tracy explores the complex religious, political, and ...

Using gender as its analytic lens, this deeply knowledgeable text illuminates the places where the Big History of China's past two centuries intersects with the daily lives of ordinary people. Based on formidable scholarship, Gail Hershatter's beautifully written book will be essential reading for all students of China's modern history.

Now in a new edition, this penetrating study by noted Yale historian Paul Bushkovitch casts new light on the profound impact of Peter the Great, one of the most revered and enigmatic leaders in world history, whose influence ultimately paved the way for liberalism, Western-style nationalism, and communism in Russia.

Parsons uses vivid detail to show how Africans, Asians, Arabs, and West Indians brought about the demise of the seemingly invincible British Empire by refusing to be treated as inferior imperial subjects. He traces the empire's legacies- the new cultures and norms that arose from its global networks of commerce, migration, and cultural exchange.

This text offers a comprehensive overview of the formation and administration of the empire from its origins in the early nineteenth century, to its climax at mid-century, to its denouement on the eve of World War I.

In this text, Richard Grassby investigates the origins and evolution of the idea of capitalism to illustrate for readers the true nature, merits and the future of capitalism.

Explores the history of Hong Kong from the early 1800s through the post-1997 handover, when this former colony became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. This book explores Hong Kong from four interlinked angles Chinese history, British colonial history, world history, and as a place with its own unique identity.

Presents a history that traces the 300-year saga of the pirates and warlords who poured out of Scandinavia between the eighth and eleventh centuries, terrorizing, conquering, and settling vast stretches of Europe. This work provides an account of this early medieval period that became known as the Viking Age.

A single-volume survey of magic, this book traces the history of magic and superstition in Europe, starting from antiquity onwards. Focusing mainly on the medieval and early modern era, it also explores the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, and the spread of magical systems, particularly modern witchcraft or Wicca from Europe to the US.

Traces the controversial record of mercy-killing, a source of heated debate among doctors and laypeople alike. This book examines evolving opinions about what constitutes a good death, taking into account the societal and religious values placed on sin, suffering, resignation, judgment, penance, and redemption.

This concise yet rich introduction to the French Revolution explores the origins, development, and eventual decline of a movement that defines France to this day. Through an accessible chronological narrative, Sylvia Neely explains the complex events, conflicting groups, and rapid changes that characterized this critical period in French history. She traces the fundamental transformations in government and society that forced the French to come up with new ways of thinking about their place in the world, ultimately leading to liberalism, conservatism, terrorism, and modern nationalism. Written with clarity and nuance, this work will be an engaging and rewarding exploration for all readers interested in France and revolutionary history.