Behind the Lines of Stone Book

A good book, in which Glete first lays down the theoretical framework of his views on early modern state building: that fiscal-military states are complex organizations created by innovative rulers and they were possible because the state more and more became the most efficient protection seller within a country. Then, he examines Spain, Dutch Republic and Sweden's state building efforts according to this theory.

His ideas generally make sense and are well written, but they don't go much further than debunking myths about absolutism and explaining the steps of early modern state building. Glete doesn't really explain why most other European countries created fiscal-military organizations later than the three countries he examines. Was it because their rulers were not innovative or skilled enough? Why did Castille and Sweden succeed in curtailing their estates and setting up permanent taxation and large professional armies, while France, England or Austria couldn't (until much later)? These are relevant questions which were poorly, if at all addressed by Glete. Additionally, repetition of his theoretical formulations (like the one I summarized in the first paragraph) again and again makes the book more boring and monotonous than it could have been.

What Glete handled perfectly is the short summaries and analyses of histiography in both theoretical and case-study chapters. These really put his study in the proper context, and is very important for especially beginners in the field (like me) so that they don't take Glete's book as objective historical truth, but as a possible explanation of how (but sadly, not why) European fiscal-military states came about.