Good morning everyone. First of all I want to thank the users who pointed me towards Peter Wilson's Europe's Tragedy. The book is brilliant, and exactly what I was looking for. Since Prof Wilson is an academic, it was easy enough to find his email address and thank him for writing such an awesome book, which is always nice.
While reading this book, I realized that I really want to expand my knowledge on this subject in 2 particular areas, and would like some recommendations.
First of all, I want to read more about early protestantism. Luther to the Peace of Augsburg basically. The recommended book list has 2 entries: Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation is from 1969, but The Reformation: A History seems like the one most likely to have what I am looking for. Are there any other recommendations? I am particularly looking for why lutheranism caught on in some places, and not in others, and why certain branches of protestantism became... acceptable, and others, like Anabaptism remained less so.
The next thing I want to read more about is the French wars of religion. I know very little about this, and I am genuinely intrigued. Maybe I'm missing a section but the book list does not seem to have much about this.
I would need any recommendations to be in English I am afraid...
Theology of the Reformers by Timothy George does a pretty good job of surveying the various issues at hand and how the various Reformers interacted with each other, which as you allude to is essential in understanding the Reformation and it's effect on society.
Actually one of my favorite Reformation texts is a Martin Bucer biography by Martin Greschat called Martin Bucer: A Reformer and His Times. It obviously focuses on one of the less famous but equally essential Reformers, but also describes the social, political, and theological landscape of the Free Imperial Cities of the HRE in a way that will answer some of the questions you've posed here. It also deals a lot with Bucer's role as a intermediary between Luther and Zwingli (and others) and how the various Reformers maneuvered politically with one another. I couldn't recommend it enough (but maybe just because I'm a Bucer nerd).
Hope that helps!