Product Description

Now in full-color comes a witty and engaging look at Europe's history and art, from America's European travel guru. Rick Steves' Europe 101 helps you make the most of your sightseeing. A fun but informative guide, this "professor in your pocket" features chronologically organized chaptersfrom the pyramids to Picassothat explain the forces behind Europe's most important cultural and artistic periods. Other features include handy lists of sights that allow you to link your newly acquired knowledge with the specific paintings, sculptures, and buildings you'll see on your trip, a humorous, readable style that is a joy to read compared with the history textbooks you slept on in school, and timelines, maps, drawings, and photos that illustrate Europe's story and round out your education.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350413 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 525 pages

From the Publisher
Make your European trip a more cultural one!
Europe 101 give you the basics about European art history and explains how the Europe of yesteryear connects with the art, buildings, and museums you're seeing today.

Customer Reviews

Fails the Test
At least one American school uses Europe 101 as a textbook. Let's hope the students received remedial education. To see how indifferent authors Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw are to historical facts, take this short true or false test:

1. Marie Antoinette said "Let Them Eat Cake."

2. Lenin overthrew the Czar of Russia.

3. "The first president of the United States won fame and a decisive victory by attacking on a Christmas Eve when his enemy was drunk and unprepared."

4. Algerians had a 90 percent literacy rate before French colonization.

5. Cortes and a "handful of mercenaries" conquered Mexico.

6. The slave trade in Africa was only big business when Europeans were involved.

7. The profits of the slave trade fueled the Industrial Revolution.

ANSWERS:

The above statements are quotations or paraphrases from Europe 101. They are all false. Let's take them one at a time: (1) The Marie Antoinette quotation is legend. (2) Lenin overthrew Russia's provisional government. He was in Zurich when the Czar's overthrow caught him completely by surprise. (3) The Hessians attacked by George Washington were sober. They were legitimate military targets who knew they were at war. (4) Algeria wasn't 90 percent literate in the early 19th century. (5) In conquering the Mexicas (or Aztecs) Cortes had substantial help from other tribes colonized by the Mexicas. These tribes helped Cortes because they were upset about paying tribute to the Mexicas, including victims for human sacrifice. The Mexicas could have killed Cortes in battle, but tried to take him alive to be sacrificed in their temple. (6) While the Atlantic slave had a higher peak volume, over the centuries more slaves were shipped from Sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa and the Middle East than to the Americas. Most African slaves were captured and sold by fellow Africans. Slavery was often as brutal in Africa and Asia as it was on American plantations. The trek across the Sahara was more dangerous than the voyage across the Atlantic. Parts of Africa still have slavery. (7) During the Industrial Revolution Britain's profits from slavery represented less than two percent of its domestic investment.

In denouncing Western colonialism the authors omit the fact its legacy often included benefits, such as economic infrastructure and institutions of self-government. Countries that were long term subjects of British colonial rule, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and India are success stories. The only unique aspect of the West's involvement in slavery was ending it. British evangelical Christians started the anti-slavery movement. The British Navy did much to end the slave trade. Colonization by other western countries also had benefits. Near the end of Spain's rule of South America Simon Bolivar stated "Three centuries of culture, of enlightenment and of industry have vanished." The story of Western Colonization is far more complex than the authors know, or want their readers to know.

Steves and Openshaw get economic history wrong. They advocate "peaceful coexistence with economic models other than unbridled capitalism," implying that capitalism is to blame for the world's strife. In fact it's the Communists who want to overthrow capitalism. The authors aren't aware that it was Americans, led by Herbert Hoover, who provided the food in the 1920s to save the U.S.S.R. from its first famine. Steves and Openshaw seem to think that prosperity is a pie; if your neighbor has a big slice then someone else must have been short changed. They complain about the "trickle-up" of wealth in America since 1982 (how anything can trickle-up isn't explained). Since then America's unemployment rate has been almost cut in half. To many, this is good news. Perhaps the authors like socialism because they can't stand prosperity. They state that "'Less happy' is a good thing."

We should appreciate other cultures and recognize that criticism of our own is often healthy. But that's not a good reason to misinform readers. Check out your destinations' web sites to get local guidebooks in advance of your trip. Amazon, your local book stores, and public libraries provide fine history books related to your destinations. To learn why the West is predominant militarily, read Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture. To learn about slavery, read Chapter 7 in Thomas Sowell's Race and Culture. To get a good deal on hotels, read Rick Steves' guidebooks. Steves thinks that his frequent travels in Europe make him an expert on its history. But it's Steves and Openshaw who need to do some reading. Don't rely on them for your history.

Perfect for people with no idea of European history
Although the book is definitely written for Americans, anyone with a vague knowledge of European history but looking for more in a concise, humourous and easy to follow format will enjoy Europe 101. But remember that the American definition of Europe is Italy, France and Germany, maybe Spain, and sometimes Britain (included as a separate chapter at the end of the book!)

Rick Steves makes the terms Renaissance, Gothic, Rococo, etc. come alive and explains the events of the time and its influences on what you see (e.g. Roman copies of Greek originals, Protestant vs. Catholic art, etc.) There are useful charts at the end of each chapter summarising what you've just read and putting it into context, plus a good reference of where to find existing examples of art and architecture covered. DY