"What accounts for the rise of the state, the creation of the first global system, and the dominance of the West? The conventional answer asserts that superior technology, tactics, and institutions forged by Darwinian military competition gave Europeans a decisive advantage in war over other civilizations from 1500 onward. In contrast, Empires of the Weak argues that Europeans actually had no general military superiority in the early modern era. J.C....

Describes the social and economic structure of city life during the Renaissance, from about 1400 to 1600, explaining how cities varied in government, commerce, population, and culture, and how they influenced the shaping of European civilization.