Europe : A History

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Summary: I am reading it now. I can not stop reading it
Review: I am not a professional. I am reading for pleasure.This book is perfect for an European,who had already some history lessons on Europe. I enjoy the style the simplicity and high level of documented comments, to dissplell a lot of missconceptions about the past ( and the future). I have to brush up my Latin ( for ROMA). I have a lot of expectations for the coming chapters.

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Summary: did the cat survive?
Review: Normally I read with a cat on my lap,for this book I feel the cat risked it's life. It is without doubt an incredible work for one man to provide this much information and so well. The problem arises from the shear size (wimps read Figes A Peoples Tragedy, excellent history but not as heavy). An excellent read and worth the effort of holding well over 4lbs for hours to read. The cat twitched but survived intact. Well done Branston, who risked more than I did. Paul

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Summary: An inclusive history of Europe
Review: Norman Davies has produced a first-rate history of Europe, the most outstanding characteristic of which is its very inclusiveness. The focus of most traditional histories of Europe lies mainly on the western nations of Europe - France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain. Davies, the author of several works on the history of Poland, has managed to create an historical overview of Europe that encompasses all the nation of this most heterogenous of regions. While one may quibble on fine detail (as a Dane, I naturally looked for fault in the material on Denmark - and found a few), the errors remain trifling and the work itself falls into the category of "must-read" history. The sheer volume of data one must wade through to write convincingly on European history ensures that no work of this character will ever meet with the approval of all readers, however, even if one does not agree with Davies on all points, this book is a solid achievement, massive and well-crafted. I heartily recommend this history of Europe.

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Summary: The Berlin Wall - alive and kicking
Review: It sure looks impressive - 1.8 kg anyway. Davis attempts to introduce the part of the European history towards which the West was (and very successfully still is) absolutely ignorant - i.e. the history of so-called Central and Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, everything is focussed upon the basic assumption that the area known as the Western Europe was the centre of the main great ideas of the European development that spread to the other areas. Stereotypes? Definetely. A feel-good-about-yourself-if-you-belong-to-the-West book? No doubts about that. And it is written well for the mass audience that never bothered to learn a bit more in school than necessary and to which the Berlin Wall remains real even when physically removed. But it still deserves a strong 8 as being a good sample of the pop reading material

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Summary: The ONE book to take on a 10-day vacation to the Carribean
Review: This impressive one volume survey of European history from ancient to modern times is the perfect Carribean vacation companion. The author's 301 special topic snapshots interspersed throughout the book are a treat. Two thousand years of European history AND a short explanation of the relationship between Brie and Camembert all are contained in this excellent book. As a vacation book, this one does add a bit of weight to the suitcase. Buy the book and use a suitcase with wheels!

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Summary: Great "encyclopedic" overview with unique "snapshots"
Review: Davies has tackled a huge subject, and manages to convey information on literally thousands of years on an entire continent, but also manages to focus on individuals, a city, or particular happenings within a country in his "snapshots". Highly recommended for anyone who didn't get the whole picture of Europe in school

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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.

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Summary: Slavophobic
Review: I think that the author showed reluctancy to accept the fact that Poles are not the victims of Russians. The clash started long time ago, and it continued into modern times. He writes about the oprression of Ortodox chuch on Uniates but doesent mention the fact that Vatican was and still is much more agressive and much more opressive than the Russian Ortodox church. He also writes about the fact that state should create nation and not the other way around, most of examples are confirming that he is right, but in balkan Peninsula we have situation where nation created the state, and it is the only way for state to fuinction i that part of the world.

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Summary: Both a great reference book and a great work in itself
Review: This book deserves the greatest possible readership. It manages to create an informed polemic against common approaches of European history while delivering a sterling analysis of its own manner. As mentioned in earlier reviews, the rather straightforward is augmented by capsules on various subjects. If you were interested in Eastern European history but still fairly unfamiliar with it, the reviews of Poland and Moscow (especially the events that transpired in the latter princedom at the end of the fifteenth century)provide you with highly readable introductions. This is the kind of writing that gives historians a good name.

PS - the reviewer who created himself ''bookworm'' is clearly at the limits of the English language, by which I do not mean his experience has skilled him.

Rating:
Summary: A non history
Review: Going through this tedious and superficial work is like being thrown into a torture chamber, a painful experience indeed, and one you just want to put behind you for good.

As a supposedly expert on Polish history, Norman Davies has proven, time and again with his subpar, semi academic work, to be more a shallow pedant than serious researcher, recycling as nauseam the cliches of Poland being a victim of grand and evil designs of its mighty neighbours, and betrayals by its allies and friends,than a victimizer and persecutor of ethnic and religious minorities, and a nation that has proven to be incapable of running its own ship of state without crashing with a big bang.

For an iconoclastic look at Euorean history, and why Poland was repeatedly partitioned, sometimes for its own (peasants) good (Austria had proven to be a more benign ruler than native Polish nobles in hock with their Russian masters), go for Paul Schroeder's The Transformation of European Politics. Written on a higher plane by a much more superior intellect.