A History of the European Restorations: Culture, Society and Religion

Description

The second volume shines a light on the cultural and social changes that took place during the epoch of European Restorations, when the death of the Napoleonic empire existed as a crucial moment for contemporaries. Expanding the transnational approach of Volume I, the chapters focus on the transmutation of ordinary experiences of war into folklore and popular culture, the emergence of grassroots radical politics and conspiracies on the Left and Right, and the relationship between literacy and religion, with new cases included from Spain, Norway and Russia. A wide-ranging and impressive work, this book completes a collection on the history of the European Restorations.

Michael Broers is Professor of Western European History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall. His book, The Napoleonic Empire in Italy, 1796-1814 (2005) won the Prix Napoleon of the foundation Napoleon. Ambrogio A. Caiani is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Kent.

This is an excellent collection, and the editors deserve praise ... One of the great pluses of the collection is its scope: the way it integrates European states and regions that have so often been left out of books too narrowly focused on France and, perhaps, Italy and Spain ... These volumes deserve to be in every library concerned with teaching and research on nineteenth-century Europe. * Journal of European Studies * In short, the editors have admirably engaged with the Restorations ... In sum, there is much promise to A History of the European Restorations, and its impressive cast of contributors have made important interventions. * European History Quarterly * This is a magnificent and exciting collection, bringing together a remarkable international range of scholars who cover both well-established topics from unfamiliar angles, and introduce areas on which there is little available in English. Any respectable historical library will need a copy: it will be widely consulted for years. * Professor William Doyle, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Bristol * This impressive collection will assume its place as an important survey of current thinking on the politics of the Restoration era in both international and domestic contexts. Scholars and students alike will consult the essays with profit. The contributors provide new and nuanced assessments of actors and policies rather than recurring to older dichotomies of radical and reactionary. Some contributions trace themes for specific regions across the whole period, others focus on specific episodes and explore the broader implications through close readings. Having both types of essays adds to the insights of the volume. * Brian Vick, Emory University, author of The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon * These two volumes provide a valuable introduction to the exciting new research which is transforming our view of Europe between 1815 and 1848. Unified by the important and persuasive notion of multiple "Restorations", they will be invaluable for anyone who teaches or studies this important period in European history. * Professor Hamish Scott, Jesus College, Oxford * This exciting two-volume collection provides a wealth of material on the European dimension of the Restoration as Europe was both re-made and made anew in the aftermath of the Napoleonic period. The range is truly impressive, covering both the states usually well-treated, notably France, but also others, for example the Netherlands, usually underplayed. These volumes deserve to be in every library concerned with teaching and research on nineteenth century Europe. * Jeremy Black, Historian *