This impressive book makes a persuasive case for the importance of state honors in dealing with several modern issues—the growth and increasing complexity of the state and the need for innovative methods to win public support, the changing relations between artistocracy and middle class, and the effort to accommodate growing individualism in motivating political and social initiatives. Clark also assesses the relationship between the evolution of honors and changes in the nature and extent of military activity in the three nations involved. The results of this meticulous study will interest not only historians but also political scientists and sociologists, from whose disciplines the author draws widely.
Alhough Clark is a sociologist, and uses terms like modernization more fluently than many historians would, the study is deeply historical and informed by wide scholarship in the field. The first section explores various facets of causation in modern societies to explain why state...