"Dramatic events in the contemporary world--wars, revolutions, political upheavals, terrorist attacks, catastrophic natural disasters, economic crises, and the endless stream of daily news--often obscure the long-developing historical processes that have created the societies in which we live and the current problems with which we have to cope. The mass media pay little attention to the broader historical patterns and contexts that shape the deeper meaning of swiftly moving public events and private lives. This new edition of A History of Europe in the Modern World therefore brings new information, documents, and interpretations to the ongoing search for historical perspectives on the complex, often bewildering, events of our own era. Although this book (as in past editions) focuses specifically on the history of Europe, it also emphasizes that modern European history has always evolved through interactions and exchanges with the wider world"--