John Wills for Granta. Oh dear, but I fear this book may start a trend. The basic concept is to take a single year and groove around the globe seeing what is happening. 1688 is of course a fine year for the Protestant Ascendancy but it also has echoes elsewhere. The period is also one in which the European advantages in projected naval or gunpowder violence had not yet reached such a level that there was major inequality. Trade is represented by chapters on South America, Africa, slavery and the first visits to Australia. The great trading companies introduce us to South Africa, Siam (and the amazing Phaulkon) and the Spice Islands. Three great empires get visits; Russia under Tsar Peter, the second Manchu emperor, and Japan. The article on the Jesuits includes a relative of the High and German Master whose death opened the book above. The great European centres (and their colonies) are covered with chapters on France, England and the United Provinces. Further sections cover religious thought and experience plus the burgeoning world of the intellectual. Wills even finding a female author and some Jewish experiences. Well written (if not totally convincing on some detail) this book is artfully placed, rather like A Distant Mirror, to get a response from everyone. It reminds one of Braudel at times, but is never as dense (or quite as magisterial). Old Duffer's Book Corner Book Reviews The Punic Wars The Northern Wars 1558-1721 1688: A Global History Richelieu And Olivares Warfare At Sea 1500-1650 Louis XIV The Renaissance At War The Great War and Modern Memory Battles of the Greek And Roman Worlds Histoire Militaire des Guerres Puniques Dictionnaire des Maréchaux de France The War The Infantry Knew 1914-1919 The Great War The Byzantine Wars The French Civil Wars The Somme The Myth of the Great War The Wars Of The Ancient Greeks Histoire de l'armée française de 1914 à nos jours To The Last Man: Spring 1918 Flodden 1513 Verdun 1916 The Mediterranean In The Ancient World The National Army Museum Book Of The Boer War La Bataille d'Abbeville Soldier Sahibs The Celtic Empire The Imperial War Museum Book of 1918 War And The World: Military Power And The Fate of Continents Back to Perfidious Albion #103 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com