A spellbinding history of 20th-century Europe that has the scope, pace and same capacity to delight as that of any epic novel.
Geert Mak spent the year 1999 criss-crossing the continent, tracing the history of Europe from Verdun to Berlin, St Petersburg to Auschwitz, Kiev to Srebrenica. He set off in search of evidence and witnesses, looking to define the condition of Europe at the verge of a new millennium.
The result is mesmerising- Mak's rare double talent as a sharp-eyed journalist and a hugely imaginative historian makes In Europe a dazzling account of that journey, full of diaries, newspaper reports and memoirs, and the voices of prominent figures and unknown players; from the grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Adriana Warno in Poland, with her holiday job at the gates of the camp at Birkenau.
But Mak is above all an observer. He describes what he sees at places that have become Europe's well-springs of memory, where history is written into the landscape. At Ypres he hears the blast of munitions from the Great War that are still detonated twice a day. In Warsaw he finds the point where the tram rails that led to the Jewish ghetto come to a dead end in a city park. And in an abandoned cr che near Chernobyl, where tiny pairs of shoes still stand in neat rows, he is transported back to the moment time stood still in the dying days of the Soviet Union.
Mak combines the larger story of twentieth-century Europe with details that suddenly give it a face, a taste and a smell. His unique approach makes the reader an eyewitness to his own half-forgotten past, full of unknown peculiarities, sudden insights and touching encounters. In Europe is a masterpiece; it reads like the epic novel of the continent's most extraordinary century.
A spellbinding history of 20th-century Europe that has the scope, pace and same capacity to delight as that of any epic novel.
Geert Mak spent the year 1999 criss-crossing the continent, tracing the history of Europe from Verdun to Berlin, St Petersburg to Auschwitz, Kiev to Srebrenica. He set off in search of evidence and witnesses, looking to define the condition of Europe at the verge of a new millennium.
The result is mesmerising- Mak's rare double talent as a sharp-eyed journalist and a hugely imaginative historian makes In Europe a dazzling account of that journey, full of diaries, newspaper reports and memoirs, and the voices of prominent figures and unknown players; from the grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Adriana Warno in Poland, with her holiday job at the gates of the camp at Birkenau.
But Mak is above all an observer. He describes what he sees at places that have become Europe's well-springs of memory, where history is written into the landscape. At Ypres he hears the blast of munitions from the Great War that are still detonated twice a day. In Warsaw he finds the point where the tram rails that led to the Jewish ghetto come to a dead end in a city park. And in an abandoned cr che near Chernobyl, where tiny pairs of shoes still stand in neat rows, he is transported back to the moment time stood still in the dying days of the Soviet Union.
Mak combines the larger story of twentieth-century Europe with details that suddenly give it a face, a taste and a smell. His unique approach makes the reader an eyewitness to his own half-forgotten past, full of unknown peculiarities, sudden insights and touching encounters. In Europe is a masterpiece; it reads like the epic novel of the continent's most extraordinary century.
A spellbinding history of 20th-century Europe that has the scope, pace and capacity to delight of an epic novel.
Geert Mak is a journalist and historian, and is one of Holland's bestselling writers. His books include Amsterdam, In Europe and Jorwerd.
Fascinating, informative, sometimes exhilarating, often painful,
and quite impossible to summarise... This is a splendidly panoramic
picture of our common European home, a book to read through and
then to dip into frequently... I thoroughly recommend his book
*Literary Review*
A broader travelling history of the whole of Europe's 20th century.
As befits a journalist with an eye for bad news, he also has much
more to say on its calamitous first half than on its more
successful second half... Mr Mak tells this part of the story
vividly and in great, gory detail, moving from grim fields of
battle (Verdun, Stalingrad) to places of revolution (Petrograd,
Berlin), and on to ghastly charnel-houses of death and destruction
(Auschwitz, Dresden)
*Economist*
An ingenious geographical-chronological structure... It's
impossible not to get drawn into this book
*Sunday Telegraph*
The pace rarely slackens and every page sparkles with insight
*Herald*
In Europe is not so much a work of history, nor is it strictly a
travelogue of the present; it is part of a growing genre that is
sometimes referred to as the 'history of the present', but might
just as well be the 'presence of the past'. It is undoubtedly a
spectacular and beautifully crafted piece of such writing
*Sunday Times*
Dutch journalist and historian Mak (Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City) was commissioned by the respected Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad to travel throughout Europe for one year reporting on the state of the districts he visited and placing them in the context of their 20th-century past. The result is an absorbing account in 66 short chapters divided by chronological time period (1900-99) and by the 12 months of the author's journey. Mak is a sensitive and perceptive observer as he takes us through the 20th century-from Verdun to Berlin, from St. Petersburg to Istanbul, from Chernobyl to Srebrenica-weaving history, eyewitness accounts, his own impressions, and ambience into a short narrative that captures in lapidary prose the essence of each place. At nearly 900 pages, this is a doorstopper. But beautifully written, skillfully translated by Garrett, and in its format of short chapters that keeps with its daily newspaper origins, it is suitable for a year's worth of thought and reflection on Europe now and in its tumultuous 20th century. Appropriate for academic and public libraries and essential for collections supporting lovers of nonfiction. [More than 250,000 copies of the original edition sold in Holland.-Ed.]-Barbara Walden, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Madison Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Fascinating, informative, sometimes exhilarating, often painful,
and quite impossible to summarise... This is a splendidly panoramic
picture of our common European home, a book to read through and
then to dip into frequently... I thoroughly recommend his book --
Allan Massie * Literary Review *
A broader travelling history of the whole of Europe's 20th century.
As befits a journalist with an eye for bad news, he also has much
more to say on its calamitous first half than on its more
successful second half... Mr Mak tells this part of the story
vividly and in great, gory detail, moving from grim fields of
battle (Verdun, Stalingrad) to places of revolution (Petrograd,
Berlin), and on to ghastly charnel-houses of death and destruction
(Auschwitz, Dresden) * Economist *
An ingenious geographical-chronological structure... It's
impossible not to get drawn into this book -- Noel Malcolm * Sunday
Telegraph *
The pace rarely slackens and every page sparkles with insight *
Herald *
In Europe is not so much a work of history, nor is it
strictly a travelogue of the present; it is part of a growing genre
that is sometimes referred to as the 'history of the present', but
might just as well be the 'presence of the past'. It is undoubtedly
a spectacular and beautifully crafted piece of such writing --
Isabella Thomas * Sunday Times *
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