In 1648, Europe was essentially a medieval society. By 1815, it was the powerhouse of the modern world. In exuberant prose, Tim Blanning investigates "the very hinge of European history" (The New York Times) between the end of the Thirty Y ears' War and the Battle of Waterloo that witnessed five of the modern world's great revolutions: scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic. Blanning renders this vast subject digestible and absorbing by making fresh connections between the most mundane details of life and the major cultural, political, and technological transformations that birthed the modern age.

Oliver Baldwin, recently back from the Barbary Wars, sets sail in the U.S. frigate Chesapeake on a routine patrol. The patrol becomes anything but routine when the ship is confronted by the 50-gun HMS Leopard outside the Virginia Capes. Commodore James Barron refuses the British captain's orders to produce Royal Navy deserters, and the Leopard fires into the American frigate with disastrous results. Following the ensuing court-martial, a new captain takes command of Chesapeake to enforce the Jeffersonian Embargoes on the Atlantic seaboard, with Oliver Baldwin still in his crew. Baldwin’s adventures continue, encountering more ships of the Royal Navy, going to battle with the HMS Macedonian, and, ultimately, witnessing the actual beginnings of the War of 1812. Steeped in accurate U.S. naval lore and told through well-constructed characters, this chronicle provides a fascinating glimpse into a lesser-known period of crucial importance to both...