MODERN EUROPE State Formation in Early Modern England, c. 1550–1700. By Michael J. Braddick. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. ix, 448. $74.95, cloth; $27.95, paper

Social history isn't what it used to be. Over the last several decades, the old concern with the macro and the social, inspired by Marxism and the Annales school, has gradually given way to a focus on the micro and the cultural. When contemporary historians study the social, they usually do so at the micro level, focusing on particular cities or villages. And when they turn their attention to the macro level, they generally view it through a cultural lens, which throws language and symbols into relief. In principle there is nothing wrong with this, of course. Political fashions and intellectual preoccupations are bound to change, and historical research is bound to follow. In this particular case, though, the shift in perspective has sometimes resulted in a narrowing of perspective as well, as the old concerns of social history have fallen by the wayside. Class, state, revolution: these are important subjects which are not much studied today, at least not by historians. Gone, indeed, are the days of Christopher Hill and Perry Anderson!