Early Modern Europe in 11+1 Stories: From Black Death to the Sun King

An alternative history of Early Modern Europe from the fall of Constantinople and Black Death to the reign of Louis XIV.

From Instagram’s favourite Greek historian, The Trivialist, comes a fascinating alternative history of Early Modern Europe brilliantly narrated through the little known stories of the individuals behind some of the continent’s brightest and darkest chapters.

Eschewing the linear approach of most popular history books, Early Modern Europe in 11+1 Stories places humans—and not the events themselves—at the centre of the narrative. Writing with humour, lightness, tenderness and scholarship, The Trivialist shows us that we humans might have always claimed the leading role for ourselves in history but we have always conveniently forgotten the most singular truth: that everything we do is governed by the unending cycles of rise and fall, birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

From the fall of Constantinople to the conquest of America and India, from the sexual lives of medieval Europeans to the great artists of the Renaissance, from the Reformation to the Witch Hunt to the Scientific Revolution, from the magnificence of Baroque to the golden age of French absolutism, Early Modern Europe in 11+1 Stories will make you think, ponder, reflect, question and see Europe—as well as yourself—in a whole new light.

Original Title: Από τον βασιλιά Θάνατο στον βασιλιά Ήλιο

Author: The Trivialist

Publication Year: 2024

Pages: 224

Publisher: Key Books

Genre: Non-Fiction – Popular Social Science