Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Cambridge University Press)

This book offers an exciting interpretation of early modern European history (1490–1648). Cunningham and Grell's point of departure, and a prism through which events of the period are interpreted, is Dürer's famous woodcut of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This image came to characterise the outlook and expectations of most early modern Europeans, who experienced a dramatic rise in population, leading to repeated episodes of war, epidemics and famine. These were seen as indicating the imminent end of the world. The book is lavishly illustrated with fascinating contemporary images which, like many texts of the period, are preoccupied with Apocalypticism and eschatological expectations. Lucidly written and carefully organised, it brings together religious, social, military and medical history in one survey, giving a unique insight into why the early modern world linked all the crises of the age to the Day of Judgement.