Covering European history from the invention of the printing press to the French Revolution, the third edition of this best-selling textbook is thoroughly updated with new scholarship and an emphasis on environmental history, travel and migration, race and cultural blending, and the circulation of goods and knowledge. Summaries, timelines, maps, illustrations, and discussion questions illuminate the narrative and support the student. Enhanced online content and sections on sources and methodology give students the tools they need to study early modern European history. Leading historian Merry Wiesner-Hanks skillfully balances breadth and depth of coverage to create a strong narrative, paying particular attention to the global context of European developments. She integrates discussion of gender, class, regional, and ethnic differences across the entirety of Europe and its overseas colonies as well as the economic, political, religious, and cultural history of the period.

'A joy to teach with, this is my textbook of choice to inspire students and provide them with up-to-date insights as they grapple with the history of Europe's major transformations in this period that reshaped the world.' Ulinka Rublack, University of Cambridge
'Breathtaking in scope – chronological, geographical, topical – Wiesner's Third Edition weaves the latest historical scholarship into the same clear and nuanced narratives and analyses of earlier versions.  Bloody dynastic clashes, devastating epidemics, scientific pioneers, New World colonizers, witches, and prostitutes – a dazzling array of individuals and social structures, all complemented by engaging sidebars where the voices of the past come alive. I don't know of any other book that captures the diversity of the early modern era with such calm erudition and unfailingly crisp prose.' Joel F. Harrington, Vanderbilt University

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks is Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an experienced textbook author. Her recent books include What Is Early Modern History? (Wiley, 2021), Christianity and Sexuality in the Early Modern World (third edition, Routledge, 2020), and A Concise History of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).