Guide to the Study of Early Modern European History For Students ...

does "early modern" begin, and when does it end? Which areas of Europe does it include,
and why these? Why not call the field "Renaissance and Reformation," as it used to be called
in the past? What is special about the period 1300-1700? Is it not perhaps more appropriate
to deal with the period 1450-1650? Or to divide early modern Europe into two periods, such
as 1350-1500 and 1500-1650? Such question are worth attention. For the purposes of this
guide, however, I will take "early modern Europe" to mean the history of the people living
on the Eurasian promontory, to the West of the Urals, from the fourteenth to the
seventeenth centuries, with occasional excursions backward and forward in time, but with
little emphasis on the regions east of the Oder and the Adriatic.
Students often want to know how many books and articles they ought to read. The
honest answer is: as many as they can. The reading lists of students who have taken their
exams with me have ranged from about thirty books and fifteen articles at the low end to
about eighty books and fifty articles at the high end. Thirty books is enough if early modern
Europe is your second or third field. Eighty is more than enough, whether early modern
Europe is your main field or not. Indeed, if reading eighty books forces you to delay your
examination or does not allow you to gain a thorough grasp on what you are reading, eighty
is too much. That ought to give you as good a sense as it is possible to get before you have
taken your exam.
IV. STATEMENT OF INTENT
Your first responsibility after having read through this guide is to write a statement
of your intentions for the examination, so that I will know better how to guide your
preparation. Your statement should identify the fields for which you are preparing yourself,
the names of your prospective examiners, the date at which you intend to take your
examination, and your current status in the department.
Next, give me two separate lists of books and articles. The first list should identify
books in the field that you have already read. The purpose of this list is for me to get a sense of
what you've made yourself familiar with at one time or another, regardless of whether or not
you still remember what you've read. The second list should contain whatever you intend to
read in preparation for the exam and the time when you intend to read it. Organize both lists
according to topics; list primary sources separately from secondary sources; and put asterisks
next to books you know well in order to distinguish them from books you have only
skimmed or read too long ago to remember.
I would also like you to give me lists of the readings you will be doing in your other
fields. If those lists aren't ready yet, give them to me when you can.
The main point to keep in mind when you compose your reading list is that you
should aim at two goals: a judicious balance between feasabilitly and coverage of the five
different kinds of knowledge mentioned above. Be realistic. Make a list of every major task
you will need to accomplish by the time your exam comes around (including your
preparation for other fields), estimate the time you will have available for this field, and
figure out how many pages, titles, and books you will be able to digest in that amount of
time, perhaps on a weekly basis.
Be prepared to change both your reading list and the timetable as you go along. You
will read some books more quickly than others, depending on the nature of the material and
your progress to that point; you will skim entire volumes here or study every line there; and
you will omit certain titles from your reading list altogether while adding others that have
8
8