
Lineages of the Absolutist State
Perry Anderson(Author)
Verso Books (Publisher)
Published on 12. March 2013
Book
Hardback
576 pages
978-1-78168-011-7 (ISBN)
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Description
The political nature of Absolutism has long been a subject of controversy within historical materialism. Developing considerations advanced in Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, this book situates the Absolutist states of the early modern epoch against the prior background of European feudalism. It is divided into two parts. The first discusses the overall structures of Absolutism as a state-system in Western Europe, from the Renaissance onwards. It then looks in turn at the trajectory of each of the specific Absolutist states in the dominant countries of the West-Spain, France, England and Sweden, set off against the case of Italy, where no major indigenous Absolutism developed.The second part of the work sketches a comparative prospect of Absolutism in Eastern Europe. The peculiarities, as well as affinities, of Eastern Absolutism as a distinct type of royal state, are examined. The variegated monarchies of Prussia, Austria and Russia are surveyed, and the lessons asked of the counter-example of Poland. Finally, the structure of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans is taken as an external gauge by which the singularity of Absolutism as a European phenomenon is assessed. The work ends with some observations on the special position occupied by European development within universal history, which draws themes from both Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism and Lineages of the Absolutist State together into a single argument-within their common limits-as materials for debate.
Reviews / Votes
A dazzlingly provocative narrative of the two millenia between Pericles and Louis XIV. * Sunday Times * What an intellectual pleasure it has been to read these texts. Anderson has a real ability for illuminating and succinct generalization. * Times Higher Educational Supplement *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 3 mm
Weight
857 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78168-011-7 (9781781680117)
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Perry Anderson
Lineages of the Absolutist State
Book
03/2013
Verso Books
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Person
Perry Anderson is the author of, among other books, Spectrum, Lineages of the Absolutist State, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, Considerations on Western Marxism, English Questions, The Origins of Postmodernity, and The New Old World. He teaches history at UCLA and is on the editorial board of New Left Review.