Research: History
In both my teaching and scholarship, my main focus has been on Early Modern Europe, with a research interest in France.
This reflects an interest, not only in Europe from the Renaissance to the Revolution, but also in the political and cultural history of other regions and other times insofar as the emergence of the nation-state is clearly one of the main themes of global history in the last half millennium. My research has been a continuous exploration of the various ramifications of political centralization, which I analyzed in the most sustained fashion in my first book, Public Life in Toulouse, 1463-1789; and which I subsequently examined in relationship to forms of public display in The Ceremonial City.
My teaching largely reflects my interests, as well as a desire to convey to students some of the most exciting aspects of Early Modern European History—a field that has attracted some of the best and most imaginative historians of our time.
Research Interests
- Formation of centralized European state
- Europe, Renaissance to the Revolution
- Early Modern Cultural History
- Intellectual history of "absolutism"
Area of expertise:
Although my work focuses on seventeenth-century France, I have written extensively on the eighteenth century and also teach courses that at least traverse the period. More importantly, perhaps, it is clear to me that the field of eighteenth-century studies has generated some of the most interesting, innovative and provocative historical work out there, work that has served as a model for my own research into an earlier period.
Expertise:
