"Explores the eventful intertwining of outward event and inner intellectual life to tell, in all its richness and depth, the story of the 17th century in Europe. It was a time of creativity unparalleled in history before or since, from science to the arts, from philosophy to politics ... Grayling points to three primary factors [behind this epochal shift]: the rise of vernacular (popular) languages in philosophy, theology, science, and literature;...

After carving a place among the powers of 17th-century Western Europe, the out-of-time modern town of Grantville, West Virginia, must fight for its life in a war-torn Europe just emerging from medieval skullduggery, and Bernie Zeppi, former Grantville mechanic, will have the chance to find his purpose and save the woman he loves in Mother Russia.