History of civilisation

The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 is a book by Eric Hobsbawm, first published in 1975. It is the second in a trilogy of books about "the long 19th century" (coined by Hobsbawm), preceded by The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 and followed by The Age of Empire: 1875–1914. A fourth book, The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991, acts as a sequel to the trilogy. (from [Wikipedia](

Describes the 118-year rule of England by the Tudor monarchs: Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane Grey, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Synthesizes events with an analysis of the cause and effect of developments of the era from the death of King Felipe II of Spain in 1598 to the death of Louis XIV of France in 1715.

"The Japanese Experience is an authoritative, lucid, and concise history of Japan from the sixth century to the present day. It is the history of a society and a culture with a distinct sense of itself, one of the few nations never conquered by a foreign power in historic times (until the twentieth century) and the home of the longest-reigning imperial dynasty that still survives. Regarded as a minor Asian state until the late nineteenth century, Japan transformed itself into a major power in the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET. "Throughout The Japanese Experience W. G. Beasley, a leading authority on Japan and the author of a number of acclaimed works on Japanese history, examines the changing society and culture of Japan and considers what, apart from the land and the people, is specifically Japanese about the history of Japan."--BOOK JACKET.

The theme of this book is the poliltical system of Russia. It traces the growth of the Russian state from its beginnings in the ninth century to the end of the nineteenth, and the parallel development of the principal social orders: peasantry, nobility, middle class and clergy. The question which it poses is why in Russia -- unlike the rest of Europe to which Russia belongs by virtue of her location, race and religion -- society has proven unable to impose on political authority any kind of effective restraints. After suggesting some answers to this problem, I go on to show how in Russia the opposition to absolutism tended to assume the form of a struggle for ideals rather than for class interests, and how the imperial government, challenged in this manner, responded by devising administrative practices that clearly anticipate those of the modern police state. --

"Just as it seems more plausible to suppose that Moses existed than to believe that he did not, so, too, it is hard to believe that all the mass of religious institutions ascribed to Moses was really the work of other men, the anonymous product, that is to say, of natural, gradual growth over a period of centuries. After all, Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Jesus were historical figures, despite the legends attached to their names. And the Mosaic religion contained astonishing novelities, which look as though they reflect the thought of one single, decisive individual.

This volume provides a detailed portrait of Rome at the height of its glory.