Rating: 
Summary: A great history for the modern open minded reader
Review: Davies' book finds the balance between document and concept history. It's multiple points of view, in terms of classification, divisions or ways of understanding are a clear signal of better comprenhension of the subject.
Extremely satisfying, this book is recommended for those who want to read the history of Europe in a way not easy to forget.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Readable, Some Flaws, Some Big Flaws
Review: Davies admits that his task is overwhelming. I personally don't like the name dropping approach to history and neither do I care for the "interesting tidbit" sections. BUt I can understand the appeal of this approach. My major complaint, and a unique one to the discussion about this book is the author's downright "meanness" towards the Catholic Church. After describing intellectual acheivments in the middle ages he says "Religious belief, however, remained surrounded by every form of irrationality and superstition." He then goes on to list all the major Roman Catholic doctrines that were codified at the medieval councils. To characterize the results of difficult and lofty theological discussion and development as irrational and superstitious" reveals more about the author's metaphysical prejudices than it does to provide insight into Medieval theology and spirituality which is a subject of some import to any historian. This bias spoils the few pages in which it is relevant.
Other than that Davies presents a good overview for the person already knowledgable to some degree in the subject. His Polish centered tendencies are idiosyncratic (all historians have them) but fun. There are better histories than this for the casual student. McKay's comes to mind. If you like European History and already have a few on the shelf- pick this one up. Otherwise pass it over for something geared more towards a beginner level.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been longer.
Review: As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is inadequately short to deal with its subject matter. Davies should have had at least two volumes, each the length of this book (around 1300 pages). Also, as others have mentioned, the little out-of-context essays that Davies inserts veer on the edge of obnoxiousness. He'd have been better off to include these essays at the back of the book as appendix essays. However, for an overview of the development of the landmass we call Europe, Davies's book is highly informative and does not talk down to its audience. Despite its flaws, "Europe: A History" is a worthwhile purchase.Something I would like to address before I finish, though, is the comment that "A reader" made regarding the "propaganda" in this book: how can you call this man a Nazi? He's so obviously liberal that it makes my head hurt to think about it. He very nearly denies the concept of race, so it's somewhat absurd to call the man a racist.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Overview
Review: Norman Davies "Europe" is the most complete history of Europe that one can buy. Starting from Prehistory and moving through to the late twentieth century, this book provides an excellent overview of the history of Europe. The book will allow the reader an excellent discussion of the trends and major events that have shaped Europe to its present form. One of the previous reviewers noted the lack of emphasis on significant items such as the effects of the Magna Carta or the Spanish Inquisition and the great depth of coverage on Poland. I however, disagree. For the book to cover each of these and similar events, its size could easily have doubled from its already enormous 1300+ pages. Norman Davies is able to make the story of Europe as interesting as it can be. The writing is never terse and many will find it as captivating as a novel. An excellent inclusion is over 300 boxed topics that do not fit into the main stream of text but serve to enlighten the reader with greater insight into the interesting stories, facts, and detailed pieces of information that expose the nature of Europe. The story of Europe is great reading and facinating history. Europe has played a huge part in the shaping of the modern world and to understand where its morals, values, and beliefs lie, one must first understand their history. This book provides an excellent description. I would recommend it to any who is interested in the big picture and who is willing to put in the time to fully read and comprehend it.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite all of Europe...
Review: It's not surprising given Davies' background in Eastern European history that this book is the first I've read that doesn't think European history is the history of England, France, Germany and Italy. I learned a great deal about the often forgotten parts of Europe such as Poland. However, towards the latter parts of the book Davies seems to forget that western Europe exists and delves deeper into Eastern Europe at the sexpense of having France and Britain drop off the map. Coverage of Russia is also a bit lacking which is surprising given the eastward looking view. If you are looking for an different slant on the interwoven strands of European history, this is a rewarding choice, but it is not very balanced.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is racially offensive
Review: I decided to take a look at this book, and was very sad that I did. It is so amazingly racist I could not believe some of the things written in here could be published! For instance, he sais that it's the Jew's own faults they were in ghettos. He sais that there were a lot of Jewish communists, so the massacre of Polish Jews should not be considered a racial issue.
At many points in this book, I felt like I was reading neo-nazi propaganda. I was very offended as I read this, and I strongly advise you not buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Unique Balanced Perspective On European History
Review: This is a totally absorbing, sparkling romp over the just completed millennium of European history. A fantastic job, although I will agree with other reviewers that this can be a tough read if you are not already familiar with much of the range of ethnic and national history. Davies clearly states his premise in the Introduction.....his desire to provide a single volumn survey that provides an evenly magnified view from both the number of pages per year and the geographic/ethnic perspective of the writer. His objective is to avoid focusing on recent centuries or recently predominant cultures at the expense of more distant or less studied times or regions. This alone is a worthy effort and makes the entire tome almost an obligatory read for a serious amateur historian like myself. Davies provides several ingenious aids to your perspective as you plow through this vast field of information. There are 300 capsules that entertain as well as provide tangential sideshows. (Did you know that Pope John Paul II approved the exhumation of Elizabeth of Austria's tomb in 1973 in an attempt to foser Polish patriotism, yet 16 people may have died from the bacilli that were released? Or, how about stretching your mind by trying to comprehend the horror of Stalin's genocidal act of state policy as he created an artificial famine by cordoning off the Ukraine in 1932-3 until 7 million people were dead?) This is a powerful book. Even better is the orientation of the European maps throughout the book so that you are looking at them with the west uppermost, thus viewing the continent as the first settlers (and more importantly, central and eastern Europeans) perceived their relationships. Especially for those of us with anglized perspectives, it's a very good thing to see the distance and small scale with which the western European nations hold by comparison with the mass of the rest of the continent. This book is remarkable in the unique perceptual orientations it provides. When added to the balanced approach of the quantity of text, there is a true effort to provide a non-western European view and this is very much needed. A great job and a worthy read for anyone serious about the past of our species.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: Davies' book is the greatest (and most useful) single-volume history of Europe. The author's prose is truly magnificent. However, ther reader should be warned that Davies assumes that the you already have a background in European history. Another reviewer claimed that there were not enough maps. I thought quite the opposite. I often find myself referring back to Davies' maps -- both when I am reading other books, and when I am writing papers. If you are in the business of history, you will probably find yourself using this book constantly, so get the hardcover edition.
Rating:
Summary: Normal history of Europe, at least.
Review: Most of Europe's histories i've read until now were both large, and totally unreadable. Finally i found one, that is large and actually readable. I borrow the book from my friend and read it in two days (and nights). Author claims he tried to balance history of Europe a bit: i don't know if he succeed, because i've never read English history books, so for me this is view as normal as in any other book. What i've found surprising, is reaction of other readers. Because there are few mentioning of Poland, some claims that author in Poland-centric! It seems that trying to put the same amount of information about Western Europe and Eastern Europe is seen by some people as paying too much attention to more than 2/3 of the continent! Not to mention to ignore everything that came from eastern and central Europe, like Croatian tie, Polish coats, Hungarian-Polish sabres, light cavalry tactics, rockets, mobile artillery, republicanism, religious tolerance and others...
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Text on Western European History
Review: Davies' book succeeds where many others do not. A rare mix of strong readability and presentation of extensive factual information, as well as provocative side notes to the text (in the form of textual "capsules" which correlate with the main text body), the book is more than enough to hold the interest of nearly anyone interested in European history. Any lay historian would be wise to consider this book for purchase, particularly the hardback edition. Although somewhat lengthy, you will likely not be intimidated for its size: you can actualy enter the text at any point and just start reading. Even reading the capsules alone can stimulate interest in all types of derivative studies. The inclusion of a large number of items in an "historical compendium" in the back of the book is not only a welcome wealth of information in itself, but actually adds another layer of fascinating material to ponder. If it took Davies' 20 years to get this book together, it is readily apparent upon reading why that was so. A great accomplishment in its own right, and one of my personal favorites within the area of general history.
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