Nicholas Atkin and Frank Tallett offer the first one-volume historical overview of European Catholicism from the 18th century to 2002. The authors record the Church struggling to adapt to the new political landscape ushered in by the French Revolution and show how the formation of nation states and identities was both helped and hindered by the Catholic establishment. They portray the Vatican increasingly out of step in the wake of world war, Cold War, and the massive expansion of the developing world, with its problems of population growth and under-development. This is not the story of the...

War and Society in Early Modern Europe takes a fresh approach to military history. Rather than looking at tactics and strategy, it aims to set warfare in social and institutional contexts. Focusing on the early-modern period in western Europe, Frank Tallett gives an insight into the armies and shows how warfare had an impact on different social groups, as well as on the economy and on patterns of settlement.

This book has been carefully planned to give a coherent account of the impact of religion in France over the last two hundred years. Most books in English dealing with the subject are now dated, and in any case concentrate on institutional questions of church-state relations rather than on the wider influence of religion throughout France. These essays summarise recent French research and provide a concise up-to-date introduction to the history of modern French Catholicism.

This book provides a balanced and up-to-date analysis of Catholicism in Britain and France by leading experts on various aspects of the faith in the two hundred years since the French Revolution. By focusing on two countries whose religious establishment and experience were markedly different, and by adopting a comparative approach, the book is able to offer a fresh and unusual perspective on the challenges facing the Catholic Church in the modern world and on its impact not only on believers but also on the two societies as a whole.

The Catholic Church has always been a major player in European and world history. Whether it has enjoyed a religious dominance or existed as a minority religion, Catholicism has never been diverted from political life. Priests, Prelates and People records the Church struggling to adapt to the new political landscape ushered in by the French Revolution, and shows how the formation of nation states and identities was both helped and hindered by the Catholic establishment. It portrays the Vatican increasingly out of step in the wake of world war, Cold War and the massive expansion of the...

War and Society in Early Modern Europe takes a fresh approach to military history. Rather than looking at tactics and strategy, it aims to set warfare in social and institutional contexts. Focusing on the early-modern period in western Europe, Frank Tallett gives an insight into the armies and shows how warfare had an impact on different social groups, as well as on the economy and on patterns of settlement.