Description
ISBN: 9781641774017
Format: Cloth over boards
Year: 2026
Publisher: Encounter Books
Description:
"The way Guelzo weaves faith, liberty, reason, and historical complexity into a coherent and accessible story creates a rich and thoughtful exploration of Western civilization that feels both rigorous and deeply human." —Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
A compelling, resource-rich history of the modern West—from the Renaissance to the present—designed for students and lifelong learners alike, and grounded in the enduring ideals of liberty, faith, and reason. This is Volume II of a two-part series tracing the story of Western civilization from antiquity to the modern age.
The Western Tradition from 1500 to the Present
With the Renaissance in Europe, the Western world experienced a long series of cataclysmic events that still reverberate in modern society. Written by Allan C. Guelzo, The Golden Thread, Volume II: The Modern and Contemporary West begins in 1500, when the Protestant Reformation brought an end of the Roman Catholic Church's dominance over European states. It then turns to the rise of imperial powers that swiftly circled the globe, and to the explosion of intellectual, economic, and technological advancements sparked by the Enlightenment.
These were moments of flourishing in Western civilization, but also moments of uncertainty, as they portended the violent political upheavals that shook continental Europe and the Americas during the American, French and Bolivarian Revolutions as well as the Napoleonic Wars. The Industrial Revolution, the Romantic revolt against the Enlightenment, an