The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe

The book "Disciplinary Revolution" by Philip S.

Gorski is a groundbreaking work that sheds light on the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe.

Gorski challenges the conventional wisdom that military or capitalist revolutions were the primary drivers of this expansion, instead arguing that a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation was the key factor.

Through a detailed examination of Calvin and his followers' innovations in religious governance and social control, Gorski reveals how an infrastructure of disciplinary techniques and strategies was created, including communal surveillance, control through incarceration, and bureaucratic office-holding.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complex historical forces that shaped early modern Europe and beyond.