Books about Blanning from Amazon.com

Europe underwent colossal political, economic, and social change in the long century between the fall of the Bastille in 1789 and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, and this volume in the Short Oxford History of Europe provides an expert and entertaining overview of the principal developments. This is sonic-boom history, with Professor T.C.W. Blanning and his team placing a firm emphasis on the modernizing and global transformations at work, although there are important reminders along the way of the persistence of monarchy and the established church.

Here, for a change, Europe manifestly includes Britain, which makes for a thoughtful perspective on all manner of comparisons and contrasts. Particularly enjoyable are Niall Ferguson's survey of economic change, spiced with sideline commentary from Dickens and Wagner, and Tony Hopkins's sweep through the history of European imperialism. Readers may find some of the chapters too absorbed with historiography, rather than history, and perhaps everyone pays too much attention to Blanning's dictum that the 19th was the "German century." One wonders what a group of Mediterranean or Eastern European scholars would have made of such a topic. But for a readable history written by specialists, this book is hard to beat. --Miles Taylor, Amazon.co.uk.
Price: $26.21 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In the introduction to the Oxford Illustrated History of Modern Europe, T.C.W. Blanning argues that, in many ways, the essence of modern man is that he is self-consciously dynamic. We are attracted to change--it captures the eye much more than stability. This excellent book reveals much about the things that have changed in Europe since 1789--and, just as importantly, the things that have remained constant. The eleven essays in this collection (written by some of the biggest names in the field of European history, such as Princeton's Harold James, U.C. Berkeley's Martin Jay, and Richard Overy of King's College, London) focus on various aspects of European society, from politics and economics to high culture and social structures, and analyze both the changes and the engines of those changes. In his standout essay on the changing nature of warfare, 1789-1918, Hew Strachan argues that this military modernization cannot simply be explained by new technology and that more emphasis must be placed on changing ideas. Strachan and the other authors for the most part eschew jargon and present an authoritative set of essays complemented by over 240 arresting color and black-and-white illustrations. Many of the chapters would be suitable readings for upper-division history courses, and the thorough index, detailed chronology, and suggestions for further reading would be a great help to students. This book is accessible to the general reader while remaining valuable to the scholar--and is immensely readable to boot. --C.B. Delaney.
Price: $17.29 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The eighteenth century was a time of expansion, forming the hinge between the old world and the new for, by its end, change was not only detectable, it was also seen to be irreversible

These specially commissioned chapters, written by experts in the field, address all the major issues in Europe's political, economic, religious, cultural, and international history..
Price: $22.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this fascinating new account of Old Regime Europe, T.C.W. Blanning explores the cultural revolution which transformed eighteenth-century Europe. During this period the court culture exemplified by Louis XIV's Versailles was pushed from the center to the margins by the emergence of a new kind of space - the public sphere. The author shows how many of the world's most important cultural institutions developed in this space: the periodical, the newspaper, the novel, the lending library, the coffee house, the voluntary association, the journalist, and the critic..
Price: $46.67 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $22.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This important new study offers an in-depth analysis of the military and political progress of the Revolutionary armies, paying special attention to the legacy of the old regime, the remarkable resilience displayed by the old regime powers, the reasons for the revolutionaries' success on land--and the reasons for their failure at sea..
Price: $31.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A distinguished historian chronicles the rise of music and musicians in the West from lowly balladeers to masters employed by fickle patrons, to the great composers of genius, to today’s rock stars. How, he asks, did music progress from subordinate status to its present position of supremacy among the creative arts? Mozart was literally booted out of the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg “with a kick to my arse,” as he expressed it. Yet, less than a hundred years later, Europe’s most powerful ruler—Emperor William I of Germany—paid homage to Wagner by traveling to Bayreuth to attend the debut of The Ring. Today Bono, who was touted as the next president of the World Bank in 2006, travels the world, advising politicians—and they seem to listen.

The path to fame and independence began when new instruments allowed musicians to showcase their creativity, and music publishing allowed masterworks to be performed widely in concert halls erected to accommodate growing public interest. No longer merely an instrument to celebrate the greater glory of a reigning sovereign or Supreme Being, music was, by the nineteenth century, to be worshipped in its own right. In the twentieth century, new technological, social, and spatial forces combined to make music ever more popular and ubiquitous.

In a concluding chapter, Tim Blanning considers music in conjunction with nationalism, race, and sex. Although not always in step, music, society, and politics, he shows, march in the same direction.

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Price: $19.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]