Product Description

Until the early 1990s, when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, travelling behind the iron curtain was never easy. In undertaking his new journey through Eastern Europe, breathing in its rich history, filming its exquisite sights and talking to its diverse peoples, Michael fills what has been a void in his own experience and that of very many of his own generation. As in all his series, Palin's New Europe takes the form of a journey through countries which have rich and complex cultures. Few have survived intact, as the ebb and flow of warring armies has continually changed the map of Europe. Starting in the mountains of Slovenia he travels down through Croatia and the former Yugoslavia to Albania before turning northwards to embrace Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, The Ukraine, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former East Germany, Poland, the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (as Konigsberg originally home to the Teutonic Knights), Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, opening up a new and undiscovered world to millions of viewers and readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24428 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-05
• Released on: 2007-09-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Synopsis
Until the early 1990s, when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, travelling behind the iron curtain was never easy. In undertaking his new journey through Eastern Europe, breathing in its rich history, filming its exquisite sights and talking to its diverse peoples, Michael fills what has been a void in his own experience and that of very many of his own generation. As in all his series, Palin's New Europe takes the form of a journey through countries which have rich and complex cultures. Few have survived intact, as the ebb and flow of warring armies has continually changed the map of Europe. Starting in the mountains of Slovenia he travels down through Croatia and the former Yugoslavia to Albania before turning northwards to embrace Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, The Ukraine, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former East Germany, Poland, the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (as Konigsberg originally home to the Teutonic Knights), Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, opening up a new and undiscovered world to millions of viewers and readers.

About the Author
Michael Palin established his reputation with MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS and RIPPING YARNS. A self-confessed dromomaniac (travel addict), he has written books to accompany his six very successful travel series, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1988), POLE TO POLE (1991), FULL CIRCLE (1995), HEMINGWAY ADVENTURE (1999), SAHARA (2001) and HIMALAYA (2003), the last three published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. HIMALAYA was the No 1 bestseller for 11 consecutive weeks.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable jaunt
Michael Palin is cool. I really like him. A lot of people find him a bit too eager to play the fool but this is nonsense because he's just great. Anyway what do you expect from a member of the Python team?

This book is a very enjoyable journey through the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. If you watch the accompanying TV series at the same time then it becomes even more enjoyable as the book contains material that the TV programme doesn't and vice versa.

On the one hand this book is really rather superficial. You never really get to know a great deal about any of the countries that Palin visits. This is made up for by some of the interesting places he goes to and people he meets. If you are after a detailed description of what Eastern Europe is like today and what the fall of Communism has mean't you won't find it here. What you will find is plenty of inspiration to go and have a look for yourself. I certainly now have a hankering for Budapest.

I've watched Palin's other TV series but this is the first time I've read one of his books. While it was very enjoyable I still can't get over a feeling of jealousy. I'd love to go to these places. This feeling is only compounded when he says something like "I meet my friend Misha who shows me round..." This last point is surely a criticism of myself rather than the book. Maybe I'll get round to visiting some more places in Eastern Europe later in my life.

The photos in the book are excellent and appear at least once every two pages.

The only big disappointment I have is that Palin deals with some countries only very briefly. I really wanted to know more about Slovakia and he never visited Belarus at all.

Overall this is a great book for getting away from your usual humdrum and travelling by proxy. It's a really enjoyable and easy read. Maybe I'll buy some of his other books and watch his previous series again.

Vintage Palin, indeed!
This is arguably Michael Palin's masterpiece and could well be his swansong. There are few travel writers who are endowed with the descriptive prowess of Palin and his ability to see the funny side in the most mundane of situations.
"New Europe" sets new standards in travel writing, offering a healthy blend of irony and cynicism, and maintaining a fair balance between reality and imagination. Palin comes across as a seasoned traveller - cum - narrator, who is capable of adapting to the most austere of conditions and enjoying a conversation with people from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds. His descriptions of the meetings with the Mayor of Tirana and the Romanian shepherd - turned - millionaire convey a palpable frisson and are not readily forgotten.
In addition, the book contains a large number of well - chosen high - quality photos with equally engaging captions. It is only natural that the author should appear in many of them for, after all, this journey is part of his life.
Unlike the TV series, the book does justice to Eastern Europe, although the odd slight bias is inevitable. Furthermore, some of Palin's quintessentially English peculiarities, including his fascination with steam - engines, may have been misconstrued as prejudice by some East European readers.
Overall, this is an excellent book which has firmly established Palin as one of the most eminent present - day travel writers. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed Palin's previous works or, indeed, anyone who wants to learn more about East European countries and their rich cultural heritage.

Don't judge the book by its cover
This book is a proof of this old adage. The presentation of the book is very attractive: quality paper and print, nice binding. The contents of the publication are, on the other hand, very disappointing. While the author travels through a collection of widely diverse countries that have often very little in common, he offers, in a very pedestrian and tedious manner, no unifying view of this part of the world, no meaningful analysis of why these countries fall under "New Europe". Author's apparently very shallow knowledge of the realities of these countries is testified by a plethora of factual errors and misleading statements, to the point that one frequently feels an urge to throw the book in a dustbin. Certainly Palin is not Paul Theraux to write an absorbing travel book, and he is also not a Lonely Planet to provide useful and accurate information on travel. One wonders why this book was actually written. The most plausible explanation appears to be the author's jumbo ego. He apparently wanted to build a momumental testament to his massive narcissism. There are 278 photographs in the book, and the author apears on 155 of them. Palin with a blond, Palin with a brunette, Palin with aristocrats, Palin with leeches, Palin on a bike, Palin on a tractor, Palin everywhere, ad nauseam. If you feel like looking incessantly at his face and read a shallow boring description of the world he failed to understand, buy the book. I would gladly donate my copy.