I looked long and hard for broad and basic 1848 histories and found this one for a buck at a used bookstore. Worth every penny! Good scale and detail, a nice range of themes, a solid older biblio, and just the right amount of polemic. Now my standard go-to book for basic facts about this period. ( )

4451 Political and Social Upheaval,1832-18553, by William L. Langer (read 21 Jun 2008) I finished this magisterial book today, June 21, 2008. I am tremendously impressed by the thoroughness with which Langer covers the period. This is a volume in the series "The Rise of Modern Europe" which he edited, and is the only volume in the series which he himself authored.. There are 18 volumes in the series, and this is the 5th one I have read. Not only are the political and economic events of the period fully covered, but the chapters on Literature and The Arts are a joy to read, since Langer was a historian who knew things about those subjects also. The period covers the momentous year of 1848 and after reading the chapters thereon I have a renewed interest in that important year. This is a great book, and I wish I had read it when it was published in 1969. Now the references and bibliographical essay are of course somewhat dated--but that surely isn't Langer's fault. [He died 26 Dec 1977.] ( )