This volume continues the exploration of the conglomerate of politically guided culture in Europe. Vividly dynamic tableaux and clear analyses intertwine: varieties of the Reformation and confessionalization; "national" religious wars and the European Thirty Years' War; the Habsburg imperial structure; the "absolute" French monarchy along with court culture and expansionist ambitions; the Dutch and Swiss republican experiments; the English parliamentary model of monarchy and liberal Enlightenment; genuine revolutions in North America and France.

After 1800, the old powers in Europe return and initiate the nationalist whirlwind of the 19th century.