Reformation Europe 1517-59

Tedious hardly describes this book. It took all of my will power to finish. Why 2 stars then some may ask. Because at a bare minimum parts were interesting and the reformation is a very interesting time in European history that even an overblown tome such as this can hardly ruin.

Elton writes in a style that to be blunt neither excites, enthrals, let alone holds the attention. To make matters worse there is almost a sense of proselytising that is annoying to the point that I came close to stopping and just putting the book away forever. But on I went and with that reached the most inane sentence I have read in a history book of some note for a very long time.

“In the face of the long and ramifying controversy, sadness is the only proper feeling: sadness at the willingness of historians to worship the graven image set up by the sociologist” WHAT? Yes I am taking a specific sentence and not giving context. Be that as it may it came at the end of a chapter Elton spent an entirety on ranting about Marxist theory towards the Reformation and protestant capitalism. I suppose that this was first released in 1963 at the height of the cold war and Elton being of German extraction was writing for the conservative west hence his view. No issue with that but one surely has to see the mote in one own eye when accusing others of being sociologist when what`should have been a riveting chapter on Calvin became a theological treatise. For the sadness of a historian being a sociologist I give you the sadness of an historian being a theologist.

This is not for the laymen delving into the newly found world of the reformation. It is not popular history y any stretch and must surely be aimed at the individual who is well read on the subject and looking to delve into past thoughts when the world was full of east west tensions and just maybe the historian thought that this mattered when telling history.

I have no idea if Fontana originally released the History of Europe series as popular history but if this is indicative popular history they did not.