Rating: 
Summary: 'Europe' for all Europeans
Review: "I am a candle," said Reason. Love replied: "Brother! I am the sun - so your time comes only when I set." Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916)There are not many examples of such an altruistic approach in European history. It makes us appreciate even more those few that are left. The NATO action aimed at liberating the Albanian minority in Kosovo is one of those generous acts worth remembering. Norman Davies makes us remember some other examples. When the Ottoman Empire troops stood at the gates of Western Europe more than three centuries ago, the Polish king, John Sobieski, led the Polish Commonwealth army and decisively contributed to saving Vienna , (a faraway place given the Warsaw perspective), from almost sure disaster. Not many people know the sad epilogue of that story. In less than a hundred years, the Austrian Emperors grabbed one third of Poland! That was really a special "generosity". We must not forget that some of the Western glory was just grabbed from many, sometimes exotic countries of Asia, Africa and America. The "discovery" of America could also be easily read as conquest. Immeasurable riches gathered that way by Spain are much better known than the fact that Polish prosperity at that time was earned by grain export to Western Europe. At that time, the Polish Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) was called "the Granary of Europe". The timing of publishing this huge work by Davies is particularly symbolic and favourable. At the turn of the third millenium, Europe and also America badly needed such a book! Unlike his many predecessors, Davies paid a lot of attention to the many factors integrating rather than dividing Europe. The book is full of fine verses, original descriptions coming from library sources, and wonderful capsules - tiny streams feeding the River of European history. I absolutely agree with one of the readers in Sweden that Davies' work is one of few, if any, readable histories of Europe. Cultural European heritage is widely attributed to the Western part of Europe. Thanks to this honest West European historian, we now have a much more balanced and fair account. Davies has shocked some old-fashioned readers with his would-be new facts about Eastern Europe. The old logic of reading history was: no rights for the weak and no voice for the weak. I would compare it to the position of women or slaves throughout the ages. The Ancient Romans would probably be astonished that someone would point out their foul practice of enslaving people. Many XIXth century gentlemen would feel offended to hear that women deserve exactly the same rights that the gentlemen enjoy themselves. Oh yes, the kingdoms of Hungary and Poland were in the forefront of Christianity for centuries, defending prosperous Western European nations against the hostile Oriental world. They became much weakened that way. Their bodies, placed geographically at the heart of Europe, have been multiply raped, not only by the East, but also by the West (Austria's invasions on Hungary and Poland, Brandenburg's and Prussian Drang nach Osten against Poland). This has repeatedly occurred in more modern European history. The battle of Poland against Soviet Russia's Bolshevik hordes - culminating with the successful battle near Warsaw called the 'miracle on the Vistula', was really an event confirming that Providence had Western Europe in mind. Only a few know what a stiff price was to be paid in Katyñ and numerous other places just twenty years later. Many of Davies' readers would hardly believe how much ignorance could be displayed in some would-be reputable books on world history (see the monumental "History of the World" compiled by Prof. Esmond Wright, 1984); the battle with the Mongoles of Liegnitz (Legnica, 1241) has been located in Hungary(!); few and hard-to-find sentences, full of basic mistakes, on the history of Poland at her Golden Age have been placed in the chapter devoted to Russia's history!). I think a few readers reacted in a negative way to the abundant information on Polish or Hungarian cultural contributions or religious tolerance in XVIth century Poland. Prejudice and taboos haunt not only European nations even now. These are something Davies ruthlessly traces and embattles. Thank you, Norman, for your human and balanced insight into European history! You presented history as a source of inspiration for all Europeans and surely also Americans. Yes, the weak also have rights and with your helping hand the weak will get stronger. I would like to see an optimistic view of European history given at the end of this book. "And I was with them drinking wine and mead, And what I saw and heard all men may read" Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), an excerpt from the "Pan Tadeusz" poem. Really, reading this book I have an impression of being in the heart of Europe for ages. Zbigniew Lechniak, engineer, The Very Heart of Europe
Rating:
Summary: Integrating Europe
Review: What makes "Europe: A History" particularly attractive to me is that it is not a mechanistic carbon-copy of some recent histories of Europe. It incorporates new research and the new and changing circumstances in which Europe finds itself today. All too often, histories of Europe recite what a few powerful governments have been doing. From Davies's book, one learns what the PEOPLES of Europe have been doing, east and west. Davies's book is innovative in content and form, and it is the first history of Europe in memory to truly integrate Europe. Davies innovates and preserves, an achievement that is rare if not unique among historians. A wonderful tome.
Rating: 
Summary: Big book, big subject, big letdown.
Review: Europe is a big book about a big subject. European history is to many Americans an impenetrable subject- much too much information with little idea as to how it all fits together. Europe is an attempt to fill that void, which it tries and yet ultimately fails to succeed. The main problem is author Davies Poland-centric view of European history. Poland is an interesting land with a rich history, fair enough. Yet, time and again the pages of Europe keep returning to this land of people continually invaded and conquered. What is happening in Spain during the Inquisition? In England during the Magna Carta? Surely not anything of consequence compared to the events in Poland! Another failure of the book is its sidebars, an excellent innovation for conveying information to the reader on smaller, less consequential facets of history. Yet the sidebars are almost all uniformly dull, telling the reader little of interest. No doubt an attempt to follow in the footsteps of other great historians, Davies aims high and comes up short. The history of Europe is long and involves much to tell. Too bad this book, for all of its length, never really tells us anything.
Rating:
Summary: Davies' Fresh Perspective
Review: This is a tour de force. Davies stands the Anglo-Franco-centric stance of most Western historians on its head. He shows how differently history looks when viewed from a German-Austro-Hungarian-Polish perspective. The big threats to Europe did not come from the West but from the East. Where would Europe and America be without the energy expended to resist the Turks, Mongols, and Muscovites? Agincourt looks rather small beer when compared to Zbaraz, Beresteczko and Vienna. Davies gives a fresh look at the importance of Central Europe to our culture and civilization. Nobody who reads this book will ever view the history of Western Civilization the same way.
Rating:
Summary: Solid piece of work
Review: For a one volume survey of Europe this book is remarkable. Few historians have the breadth of knowledge that Davies posesses, and it shines through with his especially solid chapters on premodern Europe. Many readers lament the book's size (which I find much less imposing than the much larger textbooks solely on *Western Europe* that I had to wade through in college) but given the broad, but yet solid treatment (as well as the reasonable price), I think it will be a standard text for many years to come.
Rating:
Summary: At last - a readable book on History !
Review: Over the past few years I have purchased a few books on History but have always struggled to finish them. I read this book (all 1200 pages) from start to finish in a period of 3 weeks and was never bored. I am not an expert in History and never had any higher education in this subject and therefore cannot comment on the accuracy of the material. I often felt that I wanted to know more of certain parts of the history but realize that a complete coverage of this vast topic is impossible in a single book. Probably not a book for 'experts' but if you want a good overview of the history of Europe then you can't ask for much better than this !
Rating:
Summary: Truly excellent!
Review: History tends to be boring. Mr. Davies presents a volume as entertaining to read as any Michael Crichton or John Grisham novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A dense, richly flowing narrative.
Review: There is a looseness to his narrative that is both compelling and frustrating. "Europe" reads easily, more like a novel than a history, which at times made me wonder how much Davies bent historic events to suit his literary tastes. The later chapters in which he chronicles the 18th and 19th centuries are the most compelling, tracing Napoleon's ride through Europe like Phaethon's ill-fated chariot ride through the cosmos to Hitler's ignoble campaign to the rise and fall of the Soviet Empire. All the historic antecendents are here. Norman Davies charts the full width and breadth of the continent.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning achievement in a nearly impossible undertaking.
Review: It must be conceded that the scope of this work is very nearly out of the grasp of even the most skilled scholar. However, to date no one has succeeded so fully in presenting the breadth and depth of Europe as Davies does in this work. He is to be commended for his fearlessness and honesty: he names Stalin the greatest tyrant and murderer of the 20th century and, while taking nothing away from the horrors of the Holocaust, becomes one of the first popular historians to recognize that equal and even greater atrocities have taken place in our century that we have paid too little attention to. He is also to be commended for recognizing the integral role of East-Central Europe in European history, a role too many Western historians have ignored.
Rating:
Summary: Not for Beginners
Review: I acquired this book with no knowledge of European History. I read almost all of it before finally giving up. I would not recommend this book for those with no background in the subject. I believe the author's expertise impedes his ability to communicate the subject to the novice. The level of detail seemed to overwhelm and confuse the big picture. As a novice, I had a hard time sorting out salient facts and assembling them to create a coherent overview of the subject. I have since read some other books that were vastly superior in effectively communicating the basics of the subject. If you have a degree in History this book may be fulfilling. If you are just trying to get a general handle on the topic try J.M. Roberts "History of Europe" instead. Also check out "A History of the Middle Ages" by Joseph Dahmus
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