Palmer is a marvelous stylist who writes for the intelligent student or curious general reader, yet maintains a very high scholarly standard.Some reviewers have complained that this book is perhaps difficult, but I am hard pressed to see why. Palmer is justly famous for his work on The Age of Democratic Revolutions and had a wonderful gift for synthesis and exposition.
The first edition of this classic was published in 1950, and in the most recent editions it remains the best single volume survey of the rise of modern Europe. At the end of the book, Palmer includes a comprehensive, 91-page "suggestions for further reading" covering every topic he discusses for further reading/research. I will also use it as a jumping-off point for further reading. It's really an excellent book! I plan to use it as my history bible and reference it often. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to brush up on their knowledge of history (who has some time on their hands). Palmer's book is very good for this purpose. This is crucial to understand today, as nationalism movements flourish again after the breakup of the stabilizing and static bipolar international system (i.e. He also is very clear in distinguishing between the natives and the conquering groups, including language differences. This is important because with the territories changing hands so often in history, it is difficult to conceptualize how these past kingdoms relate to the modern nations of Europe. Also, when he discusses territories he tends to explain them in terms of today.
They help to visualize the changes over time. His maps are fabulous, perhaps the best feature. He also gives short, informative bios on important individuals so that, even though he doesn't have time to delve deeply into any particular one, you get a feel for the personal motivations of all. He adds a good amount of political commentary and speculation to keep it interesting and to show the relevance of events to today's world, but not too much that you feel he's biased in any way.
Palmer leaves very few questions unanswered. It doesn't quite read like fiction as some lively historical accounts can, but that would be a difficult task given this broad a subject. Yet I found this book, which is often used as a textbook, very easy to read. I am not exceptionally scholarly, although I would have to say that it takes some scholarly motivation to read over 1000 pages of dense historical writing in one's free time.
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