History of Europe in the 19th century

Author: (Italian) Benedetto Croce Tian Shigang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-08-01
Features: As a historian, Croce left behind extensive works on social and cultural history for later generations. With his profound thoughts, extensive knowledge, reliable historical materials, and fresh, natural writing style, Croce made significant contributions to the development of Western historiography. As a philosopher and historian theorist, Croce's keen insight into the various shortcomings of traditional historiography, his powerful critique of "objectivity," "documentary nature," "poetic quality," "practicality," and "mercantile orientation" in historical research, as well as his focus on the intrinsic laws and history of historical writing, had a profound impact on Western historiography. This book narrates and analyzes the hundred-year history of Europe (primarily Western Europe) from 1815 to 1914 (before the outbreak of World War I). The book consists of 10 chapters, with the first 3 chapters serving as an introduction—"The Religious Freedom," "The Religious Opposition," and "Romanticism." In the following 7 chapters, the author divides the hundred-year history into 5 periods—1815–1830, 1830–1847, 1848–1851, 1851–1870, and 1871–1914. More than seventy years later, today's readers will still find the book engaging to read, not only because of its fluent and vivid writing but also because some of its incisive insights remain thought-provoking. This book is of high authority and reference value for the study of European history, particularly Western European history.