Reviews

"The book's true originality lies in its all-inclusive scope and erudition, and literary panache with which the story of Europe is told." -- Time (Atlantic edition)"Davies's copious unfolding of the entire course of European history exhausts the subject but certainly not the reader, for he maintains a remarkable fluidity throughout." -- Booklist (starred review)"At last, a truly pan-European history that rests firmly on solid scholarship and exhibits wisdom and literary elegance; highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)"A magisterial work, sweeping in its analysis, illuminating in its insights, and erudite in its scholarship." -- Zbigniew Brzezinski"Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance." -- New York Review of Books

Historian Davies (Heart of Europe, 1984) is perfect for this ambitious project, a panoramic history of Europe from prehistoric times to the present. He reminds readers that East and West have much in common, beginning with a long, conjoined history of events, personalities, movements, and concepts. Narrative chapters alternate with tableaux of specific events; there are numerous digressive inserts. The prose is elegant throughout; Davies's comments are always insightful and frequently witty. (Of the Western historians' dismissal of the Magyars as "not a creative factor in Western history," he comments: "All this means is that the Magyars did not reach Cambridge.") The author muses on "the extreme contrast between the material advancement of European civilization and the terrible regression in political and intellectual values." At last, a truly pan-European history that rests firmly on solid scholarship and exhibits wisdom and literary elegance; highly recommended.‘David Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus

"The book's true originality lies in its all-inclusive scope and erudition, and literary panache with which the story of Europe is told." -- Time (Atlantic edition)"Davies's copious unfolding of the entire course of European history exhausts the subject but certainly not the reader, for he maintains a remarkable fluidity throughout." -- Booklist (starred review)"At last, a truly pan-European history that rests firmly on solid scholarship and exhibits wisdom and literary elegance; highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)"A magisterial work, sweeping in its analysis, illuminating in its insights, and erudite in its scholarship." -- Zbigniew Brzezinski"Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance." -- New York Review of Books