"Origin of Europe In Routine History"

   This is a routine history of Europe covering the period 1660-1789. Except for three uninspired chapters on intellectual history, with emphasis on science, it is largely concerned with diplomatic and political history.

   Originally published in England as a textbook, it is now offered in this country as a trade book, but it has no virtues to recommend it to the ordinary reader. Its information and opinions are those of a generation or more ago. This impression is supported by its rather slovenly book list of less than six pages, which consists almost entirely of old and obsolete works. Any reader interested in this period would do much better to turn to two paperback volumes from recognized authorities, which are more informed and much better written. These are: "The Age of Absolutism, 1660-1815," by Max Beloff (Harper's Torchbook. $1.95), and "The Age of Reason," by Frank Manuel (Cornell University paperback, $1.50).


-- Carroll Quigley