I had to check amazon for what the 5 revolutions were (scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic, apparently but in terms of dedicated page-space I would substitute the Glorious Revolution for the American one) because really what Blanning is writing is a social history from the Treaty of Westphalia to Waterloo.

Which again! Fine! Beginning to suspect that historians write the book and then pull a title from a hat.

EXTREMELY fun. Blanning has a hell of a lot of opinions and he wants to share ALL OF THEM. EXTREMELY comprehensive. Thorough. Would you like to know about hunting rituals in the HRE in the 1700s? Great, this is a good book for you.

Lost a point for, collectively: Has a bibliography but no proper footnotes (boo), generally lackadaisical treatment of Jews, Muslims, and POC, occasionally his snark reaches the level that I had to check to be sure he’s not now writing opinion pieces for the Tories.