For Smith (sociology, U. of Ballarat, Australia), the emergence of early European modernity needs to be situated within the context of the wider Atlantic zone because it was shaped the experiences of the Spanish, French, and English as they competed economically and politically in the Americas. Taking a broadly chronological approach to the topic, he examines the formation of modernity as it developed through the interactions of the Euro-Atlantic empires and their Indian and Creole populations, focusing on three primary dimensions of modernity: imperial state formation, capitalism, and the construction of the idea of Western civilization. The scope of the analysis takes in the beginnings of the empires to their eventual fragmentation. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)