Lee's book takes an analytical approach to a wide range of topics in early modern European history, from the Renaissance to the French Revolution, showing a variety of methods that can be used to present a theme or argument in an essay or exam.

1: Renaissance Humanism; 2: The Background to the Reformation; 3: Political Factors in the Spread of Lutheranism in Germany Between 1517 and 1555; 4: The Spread and Significance of Calvinism; 5: Calvinism and the Jesuits; 6: The Counter Reformation; 7: The Political Development of Spain 1474-1598; 8: The Italian Wars and the Habsburg-Valois Struggle 1494-1559; 9: The Foreign Policy of Philip II; 10: The Development of the Ottoman Empire to 1566; 11: The Beginnings of Ottoman Decline 15661699; 12: European Population Growth 1500-1800; 13: The Holy Roman Empire 1493-1618; 14: Issues Involved in the Thirty Years' War; 15: The Effects of the Thirty Years' War on Germany; 16: The Significance of the Treaty of Westphalia; 17: The Spanish and Portuguese Empires; 18: The Impact of the Spanish Empire on Spain's Economy in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries; 19: Sweden as a Major Power 1611-1721; 20: The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century; 21: France During the Administration of Cardinal Richelieu; 22: France Under Louis XIV; 23: French Foreign Policy in the Seventeenth Century; 24: The Reforms of the Great Elector 1; 25: The Growth of the Prussian Bureaucracy in the Eighteenth Century; 26: Prussian Foreign Policy 1740-1786; 27: The Reforms of Peter the Great; 28: Russia Under Catherine the Great; 29: Russian Foreign Policy in the Eighteenth Century; 30: Austria Under Maria Theresa; 31: Austria Under Joseph II; 32: The Age of Reason; 33: Enlightened Despotism: A General Survey; 34: France Under the Regency and Cardinal Fleury 1715-1743; 35: France Under Louis XV and Louis XVI; 36: French Foreign Policy in the Eighteenth Century; 37: The Origins of the French Revolution