European History and European Lives: 1715 to 1914

By: Jonathan Steinberg, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Jonathan Steinberg

Meet 35 of the most influential people who lived during the 200 most difficult years in the history of the West. Between the years 1715 and 1914, the lives of these artists, writers, scientists, and leaders shaped our times and reflected their own.

You'll meet such figures as Charles Darwin, Sir Robert Walpole, David Lloyd George, Mary Wollstonecraft, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, Napoleon Bonaparte, and others whose lives represent the crucial forces that shaped European history during two decisive centuries. You'll also examine the transformation of Europe from a world of lord and serf, horse and carriage, superstition and disease into today's modern state of boss and worker, steam and steel, science and medicine.

As you grow to understand the living context of European history, you appreciate the great transforming themes embodied by the people who populate this fascinating march. The two most important themes are the movement toward democracy-culminating in the French Revolution-that dominated the first of the two centuries covered, and the Industrial Revolution with the explosion of science and technology that dominated the second.

In choosing the characters whose lives most reflect these themes, Professor Steinberg has not confined himself to those who are most often studied-monarchs, politicians, military leaders-but has included scientists, artists, philosophers, and industrialists, and even an entire population threatened with starvation-the Irish.With a fascinating approach to European history, the biographical approach of these 36 lectures provides a fun way to look at the great changes of the period and to educate ourselves about the world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2003 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2003 The Great Courses

in depth understanding

felt very accomplished to complete. learned a whole lot! the professor goes beyond the person to give context,

Pretty good

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A great place to start

This is an older Great Course but it is also one that best that I have listened to. Professor Steinberg does a fantastic job using biography as an entry point into the larger history of Europe, Then time and again he uses that larger history to show the unique character of the person he is talking about. His style is engaging and understanding all throughout.

A great entry point into modern European History, heck into history and its importance and power in general: this is one that should not be missed.

Learned So Much

I really liked this lecture series. It went over a lot of things my teachers talked about in high school, but due to lack of time or awful curriculum, I knew very little about the details. Definitely something you should listen to if you love history and want a better understanding of we got to where we are today.

WOW, this is history?

This book weaves together the lives of men and women to tell the story of the 18th and 19th century. It is entertaining, funny, comprehensive, innovative, enlightening, and just plain fun. As much as I am impressed about the history and people of these two centuries, I am even more impressed with the author/professor. He bubbles over with knowledge, and he connects these lives together so they make an understandable and relatable story. Every once in a while he stumbles over his own enthusiasm and his tongue can not keep up with his brain. These are few and far between and a charming reminder of his humanity. His presentation is amazing. He pronounces the German and French words like a local. And yet he speaks with a clear understandable English that sound like it is from Chicago. I loved this course and it left me wanting more.

Illuminating and elevating

This is a great approach to a traditionally difficult subject; my only suggestion would be that, when the lectures are presented outside the context of a curriculum, they would be benefit from a bit more scene-setting in the first minute or two: What dates are we talking about again? Where is the action geographically speaking? What else is going on in Europe at the same time?

Otherwise, uniformly excellent.

history, literature, religion, philosophy

This was an incredible series. I ended up adding like 20 more books to my notes app list of people, places, and events I want to read more about.

Often funny, very entertaining, well worth it

As a recently retired scientist, I always felt weak in history, particularly as it concerns my ancestors who arrived to the US from Europe in the mid-1800s. I decided to listen to this course to help me understand the people of Germany, Great Britain, and France in that time period. I couldn't have been happier with this course and am now a big fan of this time period in Europe. The lectures were excellent, entertaining, and often contained funny quotes - such as how the Holy Roman Empire at this time was not Holy, was not Roman, and was not an Empire. The quotes and the biographies provide for me a series of landmarks that help me to remember what I learned.
Towards the end of the series of lectures, the professor passionately argues that listeners really should read Tolstoy's War and Peace, which is something I had never done but decided to do. He was right. It was well worth reading.

Don’t miss this amazing mind expanding opportunity!

Thank you Professor for sharing so much delightful knowledge. I will relisten to your lectures and follow up so many wonderful leads.

Exactly what it says it is

I have read a couple of critical reviews which downgrade the lectures for reasons which, it seems to me, ignore the point of the lectures. What Steinberg attempts to do is show the many ways in which Western civilization was transformed from a world of absolute monarchs where all wealth and power was concentrated in the hands of a few, who competed with other for dominance while ensuring that no one else would share; to what we know today, a world where the notion of a "public sphere" exists, a world of democratic and social rights, a world of modern liberal capitalism, of scientific progress and philosophical ,and religious tolerance. By his selection of the people he has chosen to review, he is able to demonstrate how each of the lives showcases the developments that took place.
Unlike many series which focus on the who and the what and the when, this series instead focuses on societal ideas and concepts. I found I had to listen twice - once to get the general route of where the journey was taking me, and then a second time so that I could more carefully observe the sights along the way. It was well worth it.