On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State
Joseph R. Strayer

One of Princeton University Press's Notable Centenary Titles.
With new forewords by Charles Tilly and William Chester Jordan

Paper | 2005 | $18.95 / £12.95 | ISBN: 9780691121857
136 pp. | 5 x 8

eBook | 2008 | $18.95 | ISBN: 9781400828579

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents

The modern state, however we conceive of it today, is based on a pattern that emerged in Europe in the period from 1100 to 1600. Written from the experience of a lifetime of teaching and research in the field, this short, clear book is the classic work on what is known about the early history of the European state. Charles Tilly's foreword shows how Strayer's book set the agenda for a whole generation of historical analysts, not just in medieval history but also in the comparative study of state formation. William Chester Jordan's foreword addresses the scholarly and pedagogical setting within which Strayer produced his book, and how this both enhanced its accessibility and informed its focus on peculiarly English and French accomplishments in early state-building.

Review:

Praise for Princeton's original edition: "[This book] is full of essential matter about how states as we know them came into being, and is particularly good on the root questions. . . . How and why did states begin to imagine themselves as sovereign? And: how does a policy maker get a bureaucracy to follow through?"--New Republic

Table of Contents:

Forewords vii
Preface xxvii
Chapter I 3
Chapter II 57
Chapter III 89
Index 113

Other Princeton books by Charles Tilly:

• Credit and Blame.
• Why?

Other Princeton books by William Chester Jordan:

• The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century.
• A Tale of Two Monasteries: Westminster and Saint-Denis in the Thirteenth Century.
• Unceasing Strife, Unending Fear: Jacques de Thérines and the Freedom of the Church in the Age of the Last Capetians.

Series:

• Princeton Classic Editions

Subject Area:

• European History

Previous paperback published in 1973

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $18.95 ISBN: 9780691121857

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £12.95 ISBN: 9780691121857

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File created: 11/6/2011

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