J. H. Elliott is Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford, and author of Spain and Its World, 1500–1700, published by Yale University Press. He has been the recipient of many honors, including the Wolfson Prize for History, the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Social Sciences, and the Balzan Prize for History. He lives in Oxford, United Kingdom

"Not only an excellent summation of the major historiographical positions but also an insider's look at the academic origins of the original debate in the pages of Past and Present. . . . Throughout these essays, Elliott seeks explanations in constitutional and political arrangements but also in the vagaries and contingencies of time and place. It is his ability to balance structural, conjunctural, and individual elements that gives these essays their freshness. . . . These essays also demonstrate that careful scholarship, elegant prose, and a disciplined historical imagination can, whatever the national origins of the author, always illumine and provoke, which is exactly the objective accomplished here."—Stuart B. Schwartz, Journal of Modern History

J. H. Elliott is Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford, and author of Spain and Its World, 1500–1700, published by Yale University Press. He has been the recipient of many honors, including the Wolfson Prize for History, the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Social Sciences, and the Balzan Prize for History. He lives in Oxford, United Kingdom

"Not only an excellent summation of the major historiographical positions but also an insider's look at the academic origins of the original debate in the pages of Past and Present. . . . Throughout these essays, Elliott seeks explanations in constitutional and political arrangements but also in the vagaries and contingencies of time and place. It is his ability to balance structural, conjunctural, and individual elements that gives these essays their freshness. . . . These essays also demonstrate that careful scholarship, elegant prose, and a disciplined historical imagination can, whatever the national origins of the author, always illumine and provoke, which is exactly the objective accomplished here."—Stuart B. Schwartz, Journal of Modern History

J. H. Elliott is Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford, and author of Spain and Its World, 1500–1700, published by Yale University Press. He has been the recipient of many honors, including the Wolfson Prize for History, the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Social Sciences, and the Balzan Prize for History. He lives in Oxford, United Kingdom

"Not only an excellent summation of the major historiographical positions but also an insider's look at the academic origins of the original debate in the pages of Past and Present. . . . Throughout these essays, Elliott seeks explanations in constitutional and political arrangements but also in the vagaries and contingencies of time and place. It is his ability to balance structural, conjunctural, and individual elements that gives these essays their freshness. . . . These essays also demonstrate that careful scholarship, elegant prose, and a disciplined historical imagination can, whatever the national origins of the author, always illumine and provoke, which is exactly the objective accomplished here."—Stuart B. Schwartz, Journal of Modern History