Product Description

From the Ice Age to the Cold War and beyond, from Reykjavik to Riga, from Archimedes to Einstein, Alexander to Yeltsin, here between the covers of a single volume Norman Davies tells the story of Europe, East and West, from prehistory to the present day.

The book's absorbing narrative lays down the chronological and geographical grid on which the dramas of European history have been played out. It zooms in from the distant focus of Chapter One, which explores the first five million years of the continent's evolution, to the close focus of the last two chapters, which cover the twentieth century at roughly one page per year. In between, Norman Davies presents a huge and sweeping canvas packed with fascinating detail, analysis, and anecdote.
Alongside Europe's better-known stories - human, national, and continental - he brings into focus areas often ignored or misunderstood, remembering the stateless nation as well as the nation-state. Minority communities, from heretics and lepers to Jews, Romanies, and Muslims have not been forgotten.

This masterly history reveals not only the rich variety of Europe's past but also the many and rewarding prisms through which it can be viewed. Each chapter contains a selection of telephoto `capsules', illustrating narrower themes and topics that cut across the chronological flow. Davies then concludes with a wide-angle `snapshot' of the whole continent as seen from one particular vantage point. The overall effect is stunning: a kind of historical picture album, with panoramic tableaux
interspersed by detailed insets and close-ups.

Never before has such an ambitious history of Europe been attempted. In range and ambition, the originality of its structure and glittering style, Norman Davies's Europe represents one of the most important and illuminating history books to be published by Oxford.

Time Capsules

201 fascinating articles interspersed throughout the narrative focus on incidents or topics as various as The Iceman of the Alps, Erotic Graffiti at Pompeii, Stradivarius, and Psychoanalysing Hitler. Each capsule can be tasted as a separate self-contained morsel; or can be read in conjunction with the narrative into which it is inserted.

Snapshots

12 panoramic overviews across the changing map of Europe freeze the frames of the chronological narrative at moments of symbolic importance, such as Knossos 1628 BC, Constantinople AD 330, and Nuremberg 1945.

A fully illustrated history

Incorporates over 100 superbly detailed maps and diagrams, and 32 pages of black and white plates.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13084 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 1385 pages

Synopsis
From the Ice Age to the Cold War, from Reykjavik to the Volga, from Minos to Margaret Thatcher, this book tells the entire story of Europe in a single volume. It was chosen ten times as Book of the Year.

About the Author
Norman Davies is Professor of Polish History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. His previous books include God's Playground: A History of Europe (2 vols.) and Heart of Europe: A Short History of Poland (in paperback from Oxford).

Customer Reviews

A succinct but detailed overview.
I can't thank Norman Davies enough for writing this book! It became my first point of reference for most subjects I studied as a first year undergraduate student of European History. He successfully breaks up this vast topic into more manageable time periods and covers each one succinctly but thoroughly. Couldn't have survived my first year without it! I'd recommend it both to students of European History but also to those just interested in the topic because he writes clearly and explains himself well so anyone can gain a decent understanding of this tumultuous and fascinating subject.

Fabulous book containing an encyclopaedia of information
Fabulous book containing an encyclopaedia of information on European history. For those completely unaware of history the text is informative and easily read due to the style of the writing and the format of the discussion. Davies uses extensive appendices and employs text boxes to allow the reader to chose the depth they are happy with. As a result, for those already interested and somewhat knowledgably of the bare facts, the book often introduces a new and deeper discussion then that which we are familiar with. Furthermore, given the range of the discussion - 10,000 years of European history - every reader from every level is assured of learning something new. I thoroughly believe every European should be made to own one!

Brain food worth a Michelin star
I read this on the bus to and from work. School kids see this weighty tome and must assume that i am a schoolmaster as they desist form sitting next to me with their annoying zzzzz things in thier ears. Almost worth the chore of lugging it about for that alone. But it puts it all in context with a bird's eye view centred approximactely over Hungary. Seeing the interlacing of invasions, tribal movements, the Roman Empire and religion all intermeshed.
It looks at all the interests in the growth of power and the power competitions without national hubris and interest - oh that every flag waving nationalist in every part of the World could see some of their treasured myths so analysed.