The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume II: The Modern and Contemporary West

"The way Guelzo weaves faith, liberty, reason, and historical complexity into a coherent and accessible story creates a rich and thoughtful exploration of Western civilization that feels both rigorous and deeply human." ―Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

A compelling, resource-rich history of the modern West―from the Renaissance to the present―designed for students and lifelong learners alike, and grounded in the enduring ideals of liberty, faith, and reason. This is Volume II of a two-part series tracing the story of Western civilization from antiquity to the modern age.

The Western Tradition from 1500 to the Present

With the Renaissance in Europe, the Western world experienced a long series of cataclysmic events that still reverberate in modern society. Written by Allan C. Guelzo, The Golden Thread, Volume II: The Modern and Contemporary West begins in 1500, when the Protestant Reformation brought an end of the Roman Catholic Church's dominance over European states. It then turns to the rise of imperial powers that swiftly circled the globe, and to the explosion of intellectual, economic, and technological advancements sparked by the Enlightenment. 

These were moments of flourishing in Western civilization, but also moments of uncertainty, as they portended the violent political upheavals that shook continental Europe and the Americas during the American, French and Bolivarian Revolutions as well as the Napoleonic Wars. The Industrial Revolution, the Romantic revolt against the Enlightenment, and a second wave of scientific advancement in the nineteenth century challenged any attempt to restore the classical unity of the West. A radically redrawn world emerged from these developments, one that was ill-prepared for the colossal physical and moral shocks of the First and Second World Wars.

In its closing chapters, Guelzo explores how Western civilization has, in our own time, been simultaneously challenged by secular totalitarianism and yet remained remarkably resilient laying the foundations for material prosperity around the globe. Through the paradoxes of the twentieth century, The Golden Thread engages with the most significant questions facing the West today.

The Golden Thread is a two-volume history of the Western tradition. Volume I is authored by James Hankins; Volume II, covering the modern and contemporary West, is authored by Allen C. Guelzo.

The Golden Thread series features:

The Vision of Two Authors

Written by two of the most distinguished historians of our time.
The Golden Thread speaks in coherent, singular voices. Each volume is authored by an eminent individual writing in narrative form and interpretive tone, and animated by the conviction that knowledge across disciplines is best pursued through stories that are rich in insight, humanity, and meaning.

A Cultural Inheritance
Nearly 1000 curated images―sculptures, paintings, and artifacts―from the vaults of the West’s finest cultural institutions.
Readers are not merely told what happened, but shown what was created―page after page alive with the rich architecture, sculpture, music, and painting that gave visible form to the West’s most enduring aspirations.

Living Voices from the Distant Past
Features close to 200 foundational primary source texts drawn from every era.
Woven through the chapters are the voices that once commanded nations, composed poems and hymns, and drafted creeds. These are not summaries or paraphrases―they are the words themselves, as they were first spoken, sung, and inscribed.

Visual Histories of the World
Enriched by over 150 bespoke maps, each a visual key to the unfolding story of the West.
The Golden Thread does more than locate events―it reconstructs the shifting boundaries of thought, faith, empire, and imagination that defined how men and women once pictured the world and their place within it.

Allen C. Guelzo is the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He is the bestselling author, most recently, of Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy and the American Experiment. He is a three-time winner of the Lincoln Prize.


James Hankins is Professor of History at Harvard University, where he teaches Western intellectual history, the history of the classical tradition, and the Italian Renaissance. His prize-winning book, Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy, was published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University in November 2019.