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

The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition #2

by Allen C. Guelzo

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, European History, Religion, World History

880 pages, Hardcover

Published January 27, 2026

About the author

Allen Carl Guelzo (born 1953) is the Henry R. Luce III Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, where he serves as Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program.

Reviews

[Matthew Calvin]

Very much enjoyed this book (along with Vol.1). Read it as part of a group and it led to a lot of interesting discussions.

This book picks up in 1500, right before the Protestanist Reformation and goes through the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Like the first edition it has some beautiful pictures and little asides on interesting topics.

My biggest critique at 800 pages is that the book is too short. There are several interesting asides that don't get full attention. Likewise the American Revolution only gets a couple of paragraphs. I don't have a solution to this other than making the book longer than it already is, it turns out a lot of history happened over those 490 years and it's hard to pack in.