Originally published by D.C. Heath and Company in 1964, this volume emphasizes interpretation instead of narrative, thus offering an introduction to the problems of the war, but not the war itself. The editor challenges the adequacy of the traditional German-centered view of the international conflicts which took place between 1618 and 1648, the period of time from the outbreak of the Bohemian revolt to the Peace of Westphalia, which is commonly referred to as the Thirty Years' War. This volume examines that catastrophe from a wide variety of perspectives.
Theodore K. Rabb is Professor of History at Princeton University. An esteemed historian, his books include The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe (Oxford University Press, 1975) and Enterprise and Empire: Merchant and Gentry Investment in The Expansion of England, 1575ó1630 (Harvard University Press, 1967).