This book offers the first survey of relations between town and country across Europe between the Black Death and the Enlightenment. Thirteen specially commissioned chapters give comprehensive coverage, from Spain to Sweden, and from the Polish Commonwealth to the Netherlands and Italy. Each chapter analyzes its country in the light of recent debates on state formation, urbanization, protoindustrialization, and the regional character of premodern economic growth. The Introduction discusses the historiographical and theoretical framework for systematic comparison, emphasizing how alternative political configurations could set countries on different paths to growth.