The European Way: European Societies in the 19th and 20th Centuries

A good social history of Europe has yet to be written though, given the developments over the last few decades, this seems more urgent than ever before. This volume presents an important step forward in that it brings together eight internationally known social historians from Europe and Israel, each of whom offer an overview of some key themes in European history during the last two centuries. While dealing with the great changes of this period, the authors reveal the commonalities that link European societies together but also important differences at a national level.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction Hartmut Kaelble PART I: SOCIAL HIERARCHIES Chapter 2. The Middle Classes in Europe Jürgen Kocka Chapter 3. The Landed Aristocracy during the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Centuries Maria Malatesta Chapter 4. The Professions in Nineteenth-Century Europe Hannes Siegrist Chapter 5. The Petite Bourgeoisie and Comparative History Geoffrey Crossick Chapter 6. The European Working Classes in the Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Centuries Dick Geary PART II: SOCIAL PATTERNS AND DYNAMICS Chapter 7. A ‘European Family’ in the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Centuries? Michael Mitterauer Chapter 8. The History of Consumption in Western Europe in the Nineteenth- and twentieth-Centuries Heinz-Gerhard Haupt Chapter 9. Intellectuals in Europe in the Second Half of the Nineteenth-Century Christophe Charle Chapter 10. Nationalism and Feminism in Europe Ida Blom Chapter 11. The Jewish Project of Modernity: Diverse or Unitary? Shulamit Volkov Chapter 12. Religion Between State and Society in Nineteenth-Century Europe Henk van Dijk PART III: A GENERAL VIEW Chapter 13. Social Particularities of Nineteenth- and Twentieth Century Europe Hartmut Kaelble Notes on the Contributers Index

About the Author :
Hartmut Kaelble is Professor of Social History at the Humboldt University, Berlin.

Review :
“This volume does not merely add to the author’s earlier works on the same topic. It is far more ambitious, as it develops a much more nuanced argument that seeks to push the boundaries of how the social history of Europe might be written…a handbook that provides succinct and well-structured summaries of key areas of European Social history, broadly defined. Each chapter can be read by itself and provides the reader with a competent overview…a very useful and in many ways stimulating book for students and scholars alike.”   ·  Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London