Lineages of the Absolutist State

By Perry Anderson,

Book cover of Lineages of the Absolutist State

Book description

Forty years after its original publication, Lineages of the Absolutist State remains an exemplary achievement in comparative history. Picking up from where its companion volume, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, left off, Lineages traces the development of Absolutist states in the early modern period from their roots in European feudalism,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Lineages of the Absolutist State as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book is both a soaring and substantive comparative analysis of early modern social classes and state formation in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, China, and Japan. 

For me and many others, it has been indispensable for understanding world power politics and history from the early modern era to the present. Methodologically, it is a genuine tour de force. Anderson’s scholarly output generally is in a class by itself.

From Philip's list on modern world history and politics.

Want books like Lineages of the Absolutist State?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Lineages of the Absolutist State.

Browse books like Lineages of the Absolutist State

Book cover of The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe
Book cover of The Age of Empire: 1875-1914
Book cover of The Kapetanios: Partisans and Civil War in Greece, 1943-1949

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,537

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Europe, politics, and the Ottoman Empire?

Europe 959 books
Politics 772 books