European Culture Since 1848 : From Modern to Postmodern and Beyond

Rating:
Summary: History of the "Happy Few"
Review: The thing that most strikes me after having read this book is that most of the time the focus lies on France. I mean, is France so great a nation? 80% of the "trendsetters" listed are French: from Sartre, to Debussy. There are a few occassional references to Germans, Britishmen and Italians. As for the others like the Dutch and the Danish: the book seems to say that they were somewhere else.

Another backdraw would be that this book outlines the newsmaking events in European history. You will come across important musicians who set new styles, and likewise painters and writers especially. But what about trends in history? World War? Creation of nations? It is not possible to realize the present without accounting for these events. New styles and new trends will not make a seafull of a difference. So this book must be a misnomer: it is not really history as we think of it.

That is why it can be called "history of the happy few."

Lastly, the final chapters about postmodernism and photography are not very interesting. This would make a good book for passing time. As if we all have chunks of it.