The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe: 1648-1815

?“History writing at its glorious best.?”
?—The New York Times

?“ Magnificent. Exhilarating. [Blanning has] the acuity of vision to focus on the particular without ever needing to sacrifice the broader perspective.?”
?—The Sunday Times (London)
?“ A triumphant success. [Blanning] brings knowledge, experience, sound judgment, and a colorful narrative style.?”
?—The Economist

In 1648, Europe was essentially a medieval society. By 1815, it was the powerhouse of the modern world. In exuberant prose, Tim Blanning investigates ?“the very hinge of European history?” (The New York Times) between the end of the Thirty Y ears?’ War and the Battle of Waterloo that witnessed five of the modern world?’s great revolutions: scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic. Blanning renders this vast subject digestible and absorbing by making fresh connections between the most mundane details of life and the major cultural, political, and technological transformations that birthed the modern age.

Tim Blanning is professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge and the author and editor of numerous books on European history.