Rating: 
Summary: An invaluable desk reference as well as fascinating history
Review: This book has proven to be one of my most valuable desk references. I wished I had bought the hardback, given the wear and tear on it over the 6 years I have had it. Davies has done a marvelous job of condensing a tremendous amount of history into one volume. He approaches it in a three-fold way. He provides a richly flowing narrative that covers the story of Europe much like an epic novel. He intersperses the narrative with an extensive series of "Capsules" that take in special events and interesting asides in the development of a European identity. Lastly, he provides a massive set of appendices that cover everything from royal lines to WWII death tolls. The narrative is divided into a set of 12 chapters that cover broad periods of time starting with the environment and prehistory of the contintnet to the Cold War era. Davies has a tremendous command of the events which shaped Europe. His strength lies in his understanding of Eastern Europe, and in particular Poland, expanding the breadth of the continent beyond its usual eastern borders. In fact one might say that Davies has made the case to rethink European history along Eastern European lines, which is the logical extension of his earlier two-volume history of Poland. He takes in Russian history, with special attention to its Slavic roots. He deals with the inevitable conflicts that arose and provides good summaries of the World Wars. He deals with the restoration of Western Europe and the demise of Eastern Europe following WWII along ideological lines, noting how one rose at the expense of the other. He chooses to end his narrative with the collapse of the Soviet Union, providing a short epilogue on his thoughts concerning the new allignments in Europe. The numerous capsules are a very interesting approach in dealing with cultural aspects of Europe. He offers an astonishing array of anecdotes in these capsules such as the origins of Dr. Faustas to the transcendental nature of the famous war song, Lili Marlene. Although he covers much of the cultural history of Europe in his narrative, it is in these capsules that one finds many fascinating aspects of this cultural history and how it has evolved over the century. The appendices cover a lot of ground, illustruating some of the iconography of Europe, providing extensive lists of everything from the Popes and Patriarchs of Rome to a selection of the works and authors banned by the Papal Index. He provides numerous maps and charts to help guide you through the rough and tumble history of Europe, and provides accurate death tolls of the World Wars. He also provides extensive book notes as well as an excellent index to help guide you in subsequent searches. This is probably the best one-volume history of Europe available today and one that will serve you will in gaining an understanding of this rich and varied continent. His rich prose makes it a pleasure to read and his excellent index allows for quick searches to look up key events. A book that will find its place with all your other desk references or by your armchair for a long and enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: An enlightenig look at European history on the grand scale.
Review: The mere size of the book is daunting. But if you think you know European history, you are in for a great surprise. Dr.Davies backgound scholarship in Russian, Polish and Slovonic history is used to add a dimension to Euorpean history rarely covered by traditional historians. While reviewers of the book found Dr. Davies asides disconcerting, the layman such as myself, found them intriguing. The only distraction in this massive opus is the overwhelming number of individuals that are mentioned with their birth and death dates. Dr. Davies technique of focusing on a single day in each chapter as illuminating of the period he just covered, his prose and insight are spellbinding. If you want the Grand Tour of Europe this book is an absorbing tour de force. One comes away with a deeper understanding of European history and how it's past is reflected in today's Europe. When you can read the grand sweep of history of Russia for example, Communism's failure is a modern replay of Russia's roller coaster past. Here is a facinating book to read and ponder. If you believe that we relive history by not learning from the past, Europe A History will strongly reinforce this belief.
Rating: 
Summary: So so
Review: I have two reservations about this book:
1) He doesn't give enough of a general picture, and concentrates too much on specifics, some of which don't seem particularly important.
2) There is a definite anti-zionist tone. For example prior to 1948 both the zionists and Arabs were trying to oust the British from Palestine. Davies terms the Zionists terrorists, while the Arabs are called rebels. Either call both rebels or both terrorists.
Rating: 
Summary: History for people who already know it
Review: I'm finding this book less than useful. I bought it in the hopes of learning the general sweep of European history - say, how we got from Julius Caesar to Adolph Hitler. Unfortunately, I'm not really finding out. The first few chapters (geography, Greece, Rome) do a good job of starting with the basics and following civilizations through their courses, as I'd hoped. But starting around the Medieval era, Davies begins to assume you already know the history. Names, places, battles and events, even whole nations are mentioned in passing, without any information on who or what they are or where they came from, as if of course you've already heard of them, and maybe elaborated on later - sometimes much later. He bounces back and forth across Europe and across periods of a century or more, such that it is virtually impossible to form any sort of mental chronology of events or locate the people and events he describes in their proper time and place. (I think he is trying to focus on one area and trend at a time, then back up and follow another historical thread - but it doesn't work.) Sidebars are scattered throughout the book more or less at random, often having nothing whatsoever to do with either the text near them or their titles (though some are interesting tidbits of information). There are very, very few maps or chronologies, most of them located in the large Appendix but not referenced in the text to help you locate things - I've read novels with more maps and chronologies. He frequently quotes what I assume are famous people without bothering to attribute the quotes (or sometimes even to translate them to English!). I am definitely learning something from this book, but it's slow going and less useful than I'd hoped. If you already know the important names and places, this may be a useful book to help put them in a (much!) broader context. If you're trying to learn them in the first place, I'd recommend trying a different book.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Overview with Much Detail!
Review: I have read both Robert's and Davies' books on general European history. Robert's book is an excellent, concise introduction to the history of Europe that can be read in several weeks. After reading Robert's text, one has a good concept and understanding of the "basics." Davies' book includes all of the data covered by Roberts but goes into much greater detail, including many names, locations, etc only alluded to in Robert's work. The "capsules" that occur throughout the volume are indeed irritating but sometimes interesting. The stressing of Eastern Europe is not a problem and often adds much interesting information. Davies' book is much more "meaty" than Roberts'. Thus, if you want a concise introduction and review of a very extensive topic, read Roberts; if you want a more comprehensive and involved text, read Davies; or ideally, read both but start with Robert's text!
Rating:
Summary: I am a doughnut
Review: This is a highly readable and irreverent sweep through the history of a little peninsular stuck on the western end of Asia. For a book of over a thousand pages, the readability aspect is pretty much essential. For the most part it was a page-turner, and only occasionally feeling like an effort. Davies has his partisan and opinionated moments. Much of the introduction is an axe-grinding session aimed at other historians (blinkered by the West and obsessed with minutia). But the overall message is that there are many histories of Europe, and the historian has to do with them what he can. This is the only History-of-Europe book I've read, but I suspect Davies has made a far more balanced attempt than most.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most comprehensive books about Europe
Review: As a European history buff this is one of the best and most comprehensive books about Europe that I have ever come
across. I have found little known facts that I would not
have found in other books. The author's pro Polish bias
does give some interesting tidbits but I found it distorting
in other areas. As an Orthodox Christian I found the part
where he talks about the Uniates in the Ukraine historically
biased. He makes it sound as if it was the Muscovites who drove the bishops to Rome when in reality the Polish rulers pressured the bishops to accept the union and persecuted those bishops and their dioceses who refused to accept. According to Bishop Timothy(Kallistos)Ware that was one reason why the Orthodox Church prefered to be ruled by the Infidel as opposed to their fellow Christians. Despited my problems with that part I still highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A masterly survey of Europe's History
Review: Norman Davies, an English Professor of History, has done a brilliant job with this work. Covering virtually every aspect of European history in an immense single volume (some 1400 or so pages) from Prehistory to the Present, Davies presents an incredible panorama over several million years of how Europe formed, evolved, and eventually became the world's powerhouse of civilisation and culture. The book's strongest feature is its sheer comprehensive coverage of Europe. Virtually every people and nation (past and present) of historical importance, from Albania to Greece, is covered in excellent detail. Europe's geographical features (and how these influenced history) are explained in exquisite detail. Virtually every important field of human endeavour, from Art to the Olympic Games, is given great and fascinating historical perspective. Europe's historical figures are also examined, as are their often strange peculiarities, from Copernicus to Cathernine the Great. The wonderful book is also complemented by excellent maps and 'sidebar' essays. The essays, structured much like a hyperlink, explain some interesting nuance, concept, or historical figure mentioned in the main text in some detail. Davies manages to balance these features just correctly so they don't become too much of a distraction, yet cannot be ignored by the reader. This book is strongly recommended as a good introduction to European history.
Rating:
Summary: damn
Review: this book has everything; on the money information told in a flowing, anecdotal prose. THE book on Europe, a must have.
Rating:
Summary: Great overview of a huge subject
Review: Some reviewers nit-pick on the details of this huge book, but I found it to be a beautifully written book. The parts about Eastern Europe, Poland, the Byzantine Empire, the Napoleonic Wars, the World Wars, Russia, and the Cold War were the most enlightening for me personally. Some of the material was review, but so much was new and fascinating for me. One aspect I enjoyed especially was that this was a book written by an Englishman, an Oxford historian. It was refreshing to get European history from a European's point of view, as apposed to the more American-centric education I received where World Wars seemed to start with the entry of US forces. While the author's typical English cynicism and tendency for understatement were characteristically represented throughout the book, I enjoyed the unbiased and almost detached manner that the stories were told in. It really gave me a solid history of Europe from Stone Age to the modern age in one book. I tell a lot of people about it all the time because it was so well written and enjoyable to read.
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