While few intellectuals today accept the notion that the world is literally about to end through a prophesied supernatural act, between 1500 and 1800 many of Europe's and America's most creative minds did believe it. Perhaps most surprisingly, apocalyptic expectations played a central role during this period in creating secular culture--arguably the signal achievement of the post-medieval West. The topic is much with us still, as many on the religious right look to the end of days, a goal that seems closer than ever.

Apocalyptic ideas and expectations shaped the world in...

Holy War and Human Bondage: Tales of Christian-Muslim Slavery in the Early-Modern Mediterranean tells a story unfamiliar to most modern readers how this pervasive servitude involved, connected, and divided those on both sides of the Mediterranean. The work explores how men and women, Christians and Muslims, Jews and sub-Saharan Africans experienced their capture and bondage, while comparing what they went through with what black Africans endured in the Americas.

Drawing heavily on archival sources not previously available in English, Holy War and Human Bondage...

As Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America makes clear, the early modern period was one of stark contrasts: witch burnings and the brilliant mathematical physics of Isaac Newton; John Locke's plea for tolerance and the palpable lack of it; the richness of intellectual and artistic life, and the poverty of material existence for all but a tiny percentage of the population. Yet, for all the poverty, insecurity, and superstition, the period produced a stunning galaxy of writers, artists, philosophers, and scientists.

This book looks at the...

The Reformation was the most cataclysmic event in Western Christianity. An ideal resource for undergraduate history students and general readers, this title provides an accessible human narrative through the complex events of the period that many find bewildering. History comes alive and events unfold through the eyes of Philipp of Hesse, a German nobleman who ascended to becoming a key Reformation leader.

The book begins with a detailed survey of the Holy Roman Empire at the turn of the 16th century and provides chronological coverage of Philipp's life and role in the Reformation...