Review of Crisis, Absolutism, Revolution: Europe, 1648-1789 by Raymond Birn

An outstanding survey history of Enlightenment times

The book begins in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War, one of modern Europe's most devastating conflicts. In many ways the ultimate religious war, it also dealt a decisive blow to many feudal arrangements and customs, opening the way for the birth of the nation-state. Society was based on the triad of clergy, aristocrats, and an emerging bourgeoisie,…