Marina Moncler: Dawn of the New Age. Dramatic sixteenth century

Review note for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 15, 2024

Reviewer Markus Friedrich reads with great interest Marina Munkler's “eloquent novel” about the sixteenth century. The author focuses in particular on “experiences of globalization” and “religious pluralism,” which is why, as Friedrich explains, disruptions in art or social structures receive little attention. According to the critic, the expansion of Europe is treated primarily as a struggle between “the point of view of discoverer and conqueror” – and the author takes into account the fact that these views are often “closely intertwined,” as Friedrich states. When it comes to religion, Munkler deals with the Reformation under Martin Luther on the one hand and the rise of the Ottoman Empire on the other. Friedrich cannot understand that growing Catholicism is barely mentioned in this “story of departure.” Friedrich finds that the integration of sultans into the history of European rule is innovative, with which Münkler opens new horizons. Moncler has created a “stimulating panorama” of the era, the critic praises, even if it is noted that it is intentional from a contemporary perspective.

Read the review on
books.de

Review note for Süddeutsche Zeitung, 6 April 2024

Reviewer Lothar Müller liked that Marina Munkler puts the sixteenth century in a brighter light in her book. The literary scholar and cultural historian is not interested in “great art” or big names, but in the rapid development and “dramatic” intertwining of three strands of conflict that defined the era: European expansion into the “New World”, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, and the division of Christianity within Europe. The critic admires how rigorously Moncler takes this approach and what she sets aside: she is not concerned with images or advertisements of “great men” like Charles V or Philip II, but rather with more mundane mechanisms such as military tactics, risk financing or elite selection, Müller's lists. Müller finds the way in which Münkler always links her analysis with close reading of eyewitness reports and other contemporary texts to be extremely useful and accurate. He suggests that just a slightly stronger focus on the “non-dramatic” and less dramatic side of the century, such as bureaucracy, would complement the picture painted by Münkler – but overall it is still a very subtle but clearly focused presentation, as Müller praises.

Read the review on
books.de

Review note on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, April 4, 2024

Many parallels with the present can be drawn in Marina Munkler's book on the sixteenth century, says reviewer Hans von Trotha: The medieval world describes the world as it appeared in the turmoil of the modern era; The expansion of the colonial empires of Spain and Portugal play a role, as do the colonial expansion of the Ottoman Empire, the split in the Christian church, the burning of witches, and much more. According to Trotta, the stark importance of the media at the time is highlighted, and also how blatant insults always received the most attention. Just like today. Generally, the reviewer recognizes how many of the things we care about today started. Definitely a recommended read.

Review note for the world, March 16, 2024

Great book, says reviewer Mark Reichwein. It does not explore the sixteenth century in an illuminating way or on the basis of a theme such as the Reformation or the Renaissance. Instead, historian Marina Munkler looks at this era along the main “lines of conflict”: the conquest of America, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, and the Wars of Religion in Europe. She repeatedly allows contemporary witnesses to speak in letters or pamphlets, giving the story a certain drama, according to the admiring reviewer, for whom the book sheds a bright light on the early modern period.