Thomas A. Brady

The title of this book is a bit misleading. It's not a book about history books or Reformation-era historians. Rather, the author's intention is to suggest that the fragmentation of the German lands at the time of the Reformation means that the word "history" in the singular would be an oversimplification of what are really multiple histories of multiple places. While this seems a bit precious and nit-picking to me, he doesn't flog the idea beyond the introductory pages, and the content of the book is really quite good. Most histories of Germany are either very specialized or else overly broad and therefore superficial. This gives a very detailed and full picture of Reformation-era Germany that shows the governmental and cultural context in which the religious changes arose and developed.… (mehr)