Europe : A History

Rating:
Summary: A tough subject, and a (nearly) successful treatment
Review: Norman Davies' history of Europe is about as close to a masterpiece as one might expect on such a difficult subject. What I found outstanding was his focus on the Eastern and South-Eastern influences on Europe -- not only Poland (Mr. Davies' speciality) but on the demographic movements across the Hungarian plain, and the way in which the Eastern marches influenced Europe over the centuries.

There are errors, of course, and in any case in a work of this size and ambition, what are errors to one reader will be received wisdom to another. But any errors are more than offset by Mr. Davies' style -- spare and elegant, concise and interesting. In terms of style, I think he is up with Gibbon and Braudel.

I give this four stars, because I don't think any work of this reach can entirely succeed. But this is a work that will be around for a long while, on my shelves at any rate.

Rating:
Summary: A decent historical survey; well-developed and openminded
Review: Davies gives a good and concise report of the history of Europe (at least to the extent that such a thing is possible), and his book would serve as both a well written introductory text or as an accessible reference volume for looking up a quick fact or refreshing one's knowledge of a given historical event; his 'boxes' contain well developed insight into specific locations, phenomena, etc., making interesting connections that span historical time and serve as purposeful asides to the main text. Not a book to read in an attempt to fully understanding European History (not that there is one), but a good reference none the less.

Rating:
Summary: A different take on Europe
Review: It seems to me that those of a generally right of center political persuasion would find J.M. Roberts's book more impressive, as did the reviewer below. Personally, I found Roberts's book a bit too apolegetic, always trying to play up Europe's accomplishments and justify its evils. He also uses sympathetic language for some movements and unsympathetic language for others, notably socialism. No doubt any history book has such subtle expressions of authorial opinion, and maybe Davies's increased converage of Eastern Europe relative to most books is one of them. But, the reviewer below seems not to have noticed Roberts's emphasis on Western Europe. I think this book is a welcome corrective of traditional western oriented European history.

Rating:
Summary: Reach exceeds grasp
Review: Davies' Europe is an incredible undertaking. The concept of trying to summarize Europe's history in a single volume is quite a feat. The problem is the author spends far too much time explaining what Europe is (geographically) and too little making a clear explanation of how it all came together. It makes for a good primer but the scope of the book is just too great for one volume.

Rating:
Summary: Guide on Europe's turbulent divisions
Review: Norman Davis has done more for Eastern Europe than legions of politicians and business people who have sneaked behind the curtain in the last decade. As a Pole, I can only be grateful for his contribution. In this monumental and yet very accessible tome, Mr. Davis has tried to be objective and he has succeeded to a large extent. Especially important is his "European" rather than nationalistic view on history. Other continents may, however, feel neglected, and anyone looking for history of Western Civilization may feel disappointed. This book is too eurocentric;)

Rating:
Summary: Succulent History
Review: I really loved this book, I could hardly put it down, although it was a bit hard to read in the bath. It was one of the most interesting histories of Europe I've ever read, the inclusion of Eastern European content was particularly welcome, as this was an area that I knew almost nothing about. It was a fasinating broad overview of a subject that had appeared to have been picked to death. Humorous, witty and immediate with some novel presentation in the form of the authors information "capsules". Thumbs up from a non-academic.

Rating:
Summary: Great as a first read and as a reference guide
Review: A book which is a brilliant display of how one can treat a highly complex subject with factual rigour and at the same time captivating narrative. I read the book cover-to-cover over 12 months ago, but it still remains actively used for reference purposes, and to support (or refute!) various points made in many a friendly discussion.

I would highly recommend this book not only to those of us who consider history as a hobby, but also to professional historians. To the last group especially with the hope that Davies' example can be used to produce other equally or more captivating works, which would enhance our understanding of the past and thus improve our ability to advance with greater wisdom into the future.

Rating:
Summary: Green light for Eastern Europe
Review: If author gives "to much" attention to Eastern Europe as his speciality, that does not mean that Western European culture has to dominate European continent and that means that Eastern part(and Central too) is rising and contains a high number of literate educated people and "The West" does not have to ignore East-Central Europeans. So I guess author wants to show that Eastern Europe is as important part of Europe as Pentagon or White House is important to the U.S. Sincerely, Audrius Tomonis, [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: One-volume European history as good as it gets
Review: For anyone to write a book on a topic as sweeping as the history of Europe is bound to be a monumentally daunting task. To write such a history that attempts to be balanced and inclusive is even more difficult. Davies' book is the best European history that I have come across, and I can't see how one could write a better history without covering multiple volumes or including multiple authors.

There are several features of Davies' book that, to me, make it stand out from other histories of Europe. First of all, he begins with, if you will, a "history of European history", describing how the subject has been viewed and written about in the past. He describes how various historical schools of thought have come and gone over the years, thus describing the larger context into which he introduces his history. Davies attempts to write his history without some of the biases that he believes exist in many previous works.

Secondly, Davies tells the story of Europe along several threads, understanding that "European" history is really several parallel and interacting histories of peoples, nations, states, etc. It is only relatively recently that one can really say that there has been a coherent and truly "European" history.

Thirdly, eastern Europe is finally given some due attention. Too many European histories have tended to dwell on northern and/or western parts of the continent. Only someone such as Davies, whose specialty is Polish history, could adequately include the more neglected parts of Europe. I especially liked his telling of the Soviet liberation of Warsaw during the last years of WW2 as contrasted with the Allied liberation of Paris at about the same time. It was definitely an eye-opener.

Finally, I especially liked Davies' use of "capsules" to address topics that might not be adequately covered in a narrative history, but that would be helpful in understanding the history of Europe in its entirety. The main text provides the meat of the story, but it's the capsules that give it the right spice and flavour.

The book is excellent because it covers a big topic without being too generalizing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a good, substantial history of Europe.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good OVERVIEW
Review: This is truly a very useful piece of reference material for anybody doing any kind of studies in European history. True, it doesn't cover everything, but it provides a very useful structure in which to place further information. Also, the author does have a consistant theme running throughout this book that I feel obliged to point to as nobody has thus far. Davies constantly is looking for signs of the development of the idea of a unified "Europe." Davies provides a very insightful look at the way in which the people of Europe saw themselves throughout history. Now, while I must admit that it covers more of the similarities than the differences among the ways in which people view themselves, (really the book's one weakness considering what it set out to do) Davies attempt to reconstruct a picture of daily life through this idea of "Europe" is interesting.