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, and assesses their various trajectories. Why didn't Italy develop into an Absolutist state in the same, indigenous way as the other dominant Western countries, namely Spain, France and England? On the other hand, how did Eastern European countries develop into Absolutist states similar to those of the West, when their social conditions diverged so drastically? Reflecting on examples in Islamic and East Asian history, as well as the Ottoman Empire, Anderson concludes by elucidating the particular role of European development within universal history.

Situating the Absolutist states of the early modern epoch against the background of European feudalism

About the Author
Perry Anderson taught History at UCLA for thirty years and is an Editor at New Left Review. Recent books include Brazil Apart, The Antinomies of Antonio Gramsci and The H-Word: The Peripeteia of Hegemony.

Reviews
A dazzlingly provocative narrative of the two millenia between Pericles and Louis XIV. * Sunday Times *
What an intellectual pleasure it has been to read these texts. Anderson has a real ability for illuminating and succinct generalization. * Times Higher Educational Supplement *
The breathtaking range of conception and the architectural skill with which it has been executed make his work a formidable intellectual achievement. * New York Review of Books *



Book Information
ISBN 9781781680100
Author Perry Anderson
Format Paperback
Page Count 574
Imprint Verso Books
Publisher Verso Books
Weight(grams) 637g
Dimensions(mm) 210mm * 140mm * 3mm