European History

Newly revised and updated, the sixth edition of this bestselling guide helps students at all levels meet the challenge of writing their research papers...Shows readers how to identify, find, and evaluate both primary and secondary sources for their own writing assignments. This new edition addresses the shifting nature of historical study over the last twenty years.

Provides a lively critical survey of methods for historical research at all levels. While historians have become increasingly sensitive to social and cultural theory since the 1980s, the actual methods by which research is carried out in History have been largely taken for granted. Research Methods for History encourages those researching the past to think creatively about the wide range of methods currently in use, to understand how these methods are used and what historical insights they can provide.

Guidance to aspiring historians at every stage..., from practical advice on tackling and organizing projects to recommendations for finding and using resources of all kinds, whether at the local library or historical society or on the Internet. It is intended to be a serious guide to the best practices for researchers as well as a "good read" as a collection of research stories.

The Black Death is the name most commonly given to the pandemic of bubonic plague that ravaged the medieval world in the late 1340s. From Central Asia the plague swept through Europe, leaving millions of dead in its wake. Between a quarter and a third of Europe's population died. In England the population fell from nearly six million to just over three million. The Black Death was the greatest demographic disaster in European history. Sean Martin looks at the origins of the disease and traces its terrible march through Europe from the Italian cities to the far-flung corners of Scandinavia.

On both personal and public levels the past century has brought Western Europeans some of the most devastating episodes of human history. Paul Monaco identifies the major modes of consciousness that Europeans have developed as ways of interpreting their experiences. Europe appears to many Americans as an aging dowager with a grand past but little future. Yet, beyond the stereotype lies the complex reality.

As Timothy W. Ryback demonstrates in this lively and revealing book, Western music, particularly rock and roll, is not new to the Soviet bloc. Indeed, as Mr. Ryback shows, rock music has effected one of the most significant transformations ever in Soviet bloc society. He traces the emergence of rock culture in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union from 1954 to the present day, where it has become unquestionably the most pervasive form of mass cultural activity in Communist society.