From the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 to the collapse of the Soviet Union, William Pelz presents a challenging alternative to the conventional narratives of European history, putting the sufferings and the resistance of working women (often written out of history) and men at the centre of the story. There are strikes, riots, mutinies and revolutions, but they are carefully entwined with economic structures and conflicts and with aspects of everyday life. Based on a wide range of sources, it gives us a comprehensive but concise account, illuminating its arguments with a mass of concrete detail. -- Ian Birchall, author of The Spectre of Babeuf (London) William A. Pelz's A People's History of Modern Europe is an alternative reading of modern European history, a sharp break with the standard commentaries on the subject. Beginning with the Middle Ages, the book is a fascinating journey across centuries towards the world as we experience it today in the 21st century. However, as distinct from the established names who figure most prominently in the popular accounts of this long period, it is the voice of the ordinary people, the less prominent figures, the women in particular, their ideas and actions, protests and sufferings that have gone into the making of this alternative narrative and therein lies the strength and uniqueness of the volume. A product of rigorous research, yet very comprehensive, it is a book of a different genre, which would remind the reader of A.L. Morton's A People's History of England and the writings of Eric Hobsbawm. -- Sobhanlal Datta Gupta, former Surendra Nath Banerjee Professor of Political Science, University of Calcutta (India) This is a history of Europe that doesn't remove the Europeans. Here there are not only kings, presidents, institutions but the pulse of the people and social organizations that shaped Europe. A must-read. -- Raquel Varela, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal) In this lively and engaging book, William A Pelz takes the reader through a thousand years of European history from below. This is the not the story of lords, kings and rulers. It is the story of the ordinary people of Europe and their struggles against those lords, kings and rulers, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Written in a lucid and accessible style, A People's History of Modern Europe is a fine introduction to the subject which will be appreciated by students and activists alike. -- Francis King, editor, Socialist History This book is an exception to the rule that the winner takes all in historiography. It highlights the importance of the commoners which often is only shown in the dark corners of mainstream history books. From Hussetites, Levelellers and sans-cullotes to the women who defended the Paris Commune and the workers who occupied the shipyards during the Carnation revolution in Portugal. The author gives them their deserved place in history just like Howard Zinn did for the American people. Given the current climate of opinion with an overwhelmingly negative attitude towards the struggles of the commoners this book is a good lesson that resistance is often hard but also necessary and fruitful. -- Sjaak van der Velden, International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) The author puts his focus on the lives and historical impact of the common people, i.e. those excluded from power and wealth: peasants and serfs of the middle ages, workers during the Industrial Revolution, women in a patriarchic order that transcended different eras. This focus not only makes history relevant for contemporary debates on social justice, it also urges the reader to develop a critical approach towards sources, always asking who is represented and who is lost. -- Ralf Hoffrogge, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum This book presents us European history as an exciting story of generations of people struggling for better living conditions, social and political rights, for emancipation. This struggles did not always led to immediate success but contributed to the general progress in the long run. This story has to be remembered and specifically considered now, when the very notions of enlightenment, progress and social change are becoming questioned. This means that there are quite a few struggles still ahead of us and we will have to draw inspiration from the experience and history of popular resistance and revolutions of the past. -- Boris Kagarlitsky, director of Institute for globalization studies and social movements (Moscow), author of From Empires to Imperialism This book is a splendid antidote to the many European histories dominated by kings, businessmen and generals. It should be on the shelves of both academics and activists ... a lively and informative intellectual tour de force. -- Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam)

William A. Pelz is Director of the Institute of Working Class History in Chicago and a Professor of History at Elgin Community College. His recent works include Wilhelm Liebknecht and German Social Democracy (Greenwood Press, 2015), The Eugene V. Debs Reader (The Merlin Press Ltd, 2014) and Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March (Peter Lang Publishing, 2007).