This Companion contains 31 essays by leading international scholars to provide an overview of the key debates on eighteenth-century Europe.

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• Examines the social, intellectual, economic, cultural, and political changes that took place throughout eighteenth-century Europe
  
• Focuses on Europe while placing it within its international context
  
• Considers not just major western European states, but also the often neglected countries of eastern and northern Europe

• Contents 6
• Illustrations 9
• Notes on Contributors 12
• Acknowledgments 16
• Maps 17
• Introduction 26
• Part I: People, Production, and Consumption 34
  • Chapter One: Eighteenth-Century History and the European Environment 36
  • Chapter Two: Gender 52
  • Chapter Three: Rural Economy and Society 72
  • Chapter Four: Manufacturing, Markets, and Consumption 91
  • Chapter Five: Towns and their Inhabitants 107
  • Chapter Six: The Eighteenth-Century Nobility: Challenge and Renewal 119
  • Chapter Seven: Poverty 134
• Part II: Cultures 148