Europe: A History is a narrative history of the European continent from prehistoric times to the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991. It is organized chronologically with each chapter focusing on the themes that dominated its respective era. The author has attempted a balance of macro and micro history; each of the lengthy chapters ends with a segment focusing on a specific locality and how the lives of its citizens reflect the historical forces at play at that moment. The text is also sprikled with sidebars, or "capsules," taking an in-depth look at a particular theme, incident or person. The purpose of the capsules is often to show how nearly forgotten events had a major impact on our history. At the end of the book is a fascinating collection of over 100 pages of maps, charts and lists.

The two-fold theme of Europe: A History is clearly stated in Davies's introduction: (1) the history of Europe really is more important than that of any other part of the world, but (2) the history of all parts of Europe is equally important. He rejects, therefore, the conventional histories that focus principally on Western Europe. The author backs this up by treating liberally on the far corners of Europe in most chapters. But unfortunately Davies's treatment is not as balanced geographically as it purports to be. Before writing his history of Europe, Davies focused on the history of Poland. That focus persists in his later work, with Poland getting significantly more coverage than, for example, Spain. Moreover, he seems never to have a bad thing to say about the actions of the Poles or a good opinion about her enemies. By the end of the book this cheerleading for Poland becomes positively annoying.

Personally I found the organization of the book to be another annoyance. The long chapters are not subdivided. The capsules are not always located where you would expect them, and are given titles that seem deliberately cryptic. And the huge section of charts and tables seems organized more for browsing than reference. While none of this is a problem when reading the book cover to cover, it presents obstacles to the reader wanting to look up a specific topic. The table of contents is of no help, and there are potentially three different indices to consult.

Europe: A History is entertaining, informative, fascinating, well-written, and often moving. It is not, however, without flaws. A better history of Europe can still be written. ( )

Wow. Greatly organized. Cogent. A great read. Excellent history primer. A must for any library. His use of "capsules" is elegant too.

Will become one of the "must have" books for any student of history. ( )

An informative overview of the history of Europe as a whole. I really enojoyed the little boxes throughout the book highlighting little-known facts or anecdotes about the history of Europe. My favourite part was the essay at the start of the book, in which Davies presents his definition of European history. I didn't find this book to be a great sholarly work, yet I found it entertaining, informative and thought-provoking. ( )

Excellent book, but only for the ambitious reader

This magisterial work takes a completely continental view of European history. It sets the story of migrations and the rise and fall of empires in a geographical context, starting with the premise that Europe is distinguished by the movement of populations in prehistoric times from East to West. It therefore gives proper space to accounts of peoples., empires and movements beyond what we used to call 'the Iron Curtain'. To emphasise this point, many of the maps are drawn with North at the right-hand side, not the top. Davies constantly reminds us that he is trying very hard to avoid "Western-centricism".

The book has many 'capsules', self-contained essays on topics not central to the main thrust of the historical narrative but illuminating nonetheless. These can be accessed throughout the book by a sort of typographical hyperlink and they do not necessarily correspond to the chronological sequence of the text where they first appear.

The overall effect is one of comprehensiveness. This book is essential reading for anyone who thinks that there is something special about 'Britishness' (or any other sort of '-ness', for that matter). It shows that one way or another, we in the UK are all European, no matter what our origin. ( )