History: European: RRR Reading List - Ryan

A dense survey that deals with a complex bit of intellectual historical terrain. Madison College copy is long overdue, consider InterLibrary Loan.

Ozment’s a highly regarded historian and this is an excellent and interesting survey. JR

A pioneering collection of essays that redirected research concerning eighteenth century Europe. The essays have been harshly criticized, but they are wonderful examinations between crime and social control and rebellion

A detail-filled analysis of Waterloo that is excellent for readers who know little about the subject

Good study of a horrific event.

Excellent survey by a wonderful English Marxist historian

Volume II of the Oxford History of the British Empire examines the history of British worldwide expansion from the Glorious Revolution of 1689 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a crucial phase in the creation of the modern British Empire.

Haigh’s biography does not glorify Elizabeth but presents a “revisionist” view of the Virgin Queen

A classic survey that reflects Elton’s claim that the Tudors revolutionized royal government in England.

At one time, Pennington’s book served as the textbook for instructors teaching seventeenth century European history courses.

Internationally renowned [deceased]UW-historian George Mosse co-authored this serviceable survey.

Student reviewers like Underdown’s study.

Hogg writes passionately about “God’s Secret Agents but student reviewers find her analysis less than convincing. Still, students recommend the book because of the intrinsic interest of the subject.

Popular much criticized history of Catherine the Great.

A wonderful biography written by an eminent historian who takes a more critical view of the Henricia

A classic biography of Martin Luther that arguably constructs a heroic rather than a human Luther. However, this remains arguably the best English-language biography of Luther.

fast moving survey

Kamen’s a “rock-star” historian of early modern Spain and this is an excellent study.

Students wanting to read a description of Ivan’s spectacular acts of violence will be disappointed in this biography

Primarily an expert in eighteenth century Russia, de Madariaga writes a solid biography about Ivan.

Stodgy but good traditional survey

A difficult biography of da Vinci; students new to Da Vinci should look elsewhere.

(Copy = MISSING; consider Interlibrary Loan)

Weir’s a popular historian who regularly irritates academic historians but non-academic readers buy her books.

Solid introductory biography

According to Fraser, Louis XIV wasn’t a warm-hearted—not cold-hearted—serial adulterer

Students select this book but are often frustrated with this analysis of Pope Julius II’s daughter but do find this a fairly easy book to understand.

A very thick narrative survey of Early Modern Europe that has gone back into print.

A good biography of Marie Antoinette that served as the basis for the recent biopic.

A sympathetic portrait of a controversial monarch

An excellent study of the creation of the blood libel, and, more broadly, European anti-Semitism.

An excellent account of Napoleon’s last bid to return to power.

Schom sees nothing but bloodshed, devastation, and despotism in Napoleon and challenges any sort of positive depiction of the Emperor of France

Excellent narrative of a hugely significant naval battle

Volume I of the Oxford History of the British Empire explores the origins of empire.

consider InterLibrary Loan

National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.

An well written and intriguing study by one of the English-speaking world’s most popular academic historians

A dense, detailed, but interesting local study of the English Civil War.

Students who have selected this book have liked it

A solid, dense-packed survey that is best read in twenty-page chunks

A good study but students prefer Fraser’s study.

An excellent accessible and student-friendly account of the Terror.

An interesting survey of floral hysteria

Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, and more.

Unapologetically pro-British but a fine account of the last Napoleonic battle

Another good Ozment book.

A well-researched, reasoned approach to the witch hunts, informative but a bit plodding.

A good collection of essays but this it’s harder to read than the other witch hunt monographs mentioned

A lively and gut-wrenching analyses of the violence of the witch hunts. A passionate arguably feminist account that has been stridently criticized.

A model study of witchcraft that grounds the persecution in relations between neighbors. An excellent but often difficult book.

Excellent narrative history of the women who were married to a regularly less than ideal spouse.

A stimulating and intensive examination of the subject in survey form—excellent book by a UW-Milwaukee historian

A good survey but student reviewers regularly contend that Bainton spends more time writing about male Reformation figures than women.

A straightforward and pioneering account of women’s role in the Renaissance.

A well-written study but student reviewers think Zemon-Davis effectively examines all of her subjects.

An influential psychoanalytical biography of Luther who never reclined on Freud’s couch. Interesting if arguably ahistorical reading!