The Days of the French Revolution (1999) by Christopher Hibbert offers an excellent and readable introduction to the important historical event. Hibbert often uses vignettes of people's lives and events to bring to life the historical detail.

David Blayney Brown's Romanticism (2001) in the Art and Ideas series focuses on European artists during the years 1775-1830, connecting radical new ideas about art to the larger social and political scene of the day. An important consideration for any student is how the Gothic fits within the larger scope of the Romantic movement in art, literature, and music.

A readable and thorough biography of Edgar Allan Poe is Jeffrey Meyer's Edgar Allan Poe (2000). This book concentrates on the events and details of Poe's life rather than offering a critical history of his works. As such, it is an important companion piece to studies of...