This is one of the best Teaching Company courses ever. Bucholz is a fluid speaker, who occasionally stumbles over his script but quickly recovers. He is very easy to listen to, and his concise descriptions of events such as the Thirty Years War and the French Revolution are the clearest I have heard. Notably, he knowledgeably weaves literature, poetry, and even brief discussions of composers throughout the course, giving art its due along with tales of statesmen, politicians, generals, soldiers, and ordinary people (the best kind of people of all, of course). He also has a good grasp of the scientific advances that had such an effect on the varying rates of development across Europe. And he doesn't gloss over the horrors of the slave trade and other less than noble practices of Europeans. (And this is a course about Europe. America appears only in its relationship and influence on Europe.) Very very well done. ( )