The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848-1918 (1954)

Taylor successfully tackles a sprawling, detailed subject -- seventy years of byzantine European diplomacy that set the stage for the First World War and, not so indirectly, the Second. He doesn't hold the reader's hand, and assumes you are familiar with many of the events and people he discusses. I wasn't, so I referred often to Britannica, Encarta, and Wikipedia as I read. By doing so, I learned a lot from this book. ( )

2377 The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1918, by A. J. P. Taylor (read 13 Apr 1991) (Book of the Year) This is a sheerly fascinating diplomatic history. I should have read it in 1954 when it came out. I don't think I disagreed with any of its assessments. For instance, Taylor says 'peace must have brought Germany the mastery of Europe within a few years' in 1914 but peace was prevented by the habit of her diplomacy and by the mental outlook of her people. The crassness of diplomacy before the first World War surprised--somehow it seems we are little better nowadays. This book told me lots I didn't seem to remember anymore--and it told it so fast. So many of the events discussed are worth a lot closer study. There is not end to what I want to read. [At year's end I decided this was the best book I read in 1991.] ( )