A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century
by Richard Vinen
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The problem with the history of twentieth-century Europe is that we all think we know it. The great stories of the century-the two world wars, the rise and fall of Nazism and Communism-seem self-evident in their importance. But behind the politics and the ideologies lies another history: the history of forces that shaped the lives of individual Europeans... and the lives of men and women around the world. (Americans need only think of the way that the history of Europe has shaped the flow show more ofimmigrants to the U.S. and thereby altered our nation's history.)Richard Vinen contends that there is no single history that encompasses the experience of the century, but rather a multiplicity of different, interlocking histories-stories not only of politics and military movements, but also of culture, religion, sex, and demographics, related here with an unmatched eye for the telling detail and spiced with memorable anecdotes. As theSunday Telegraph put it: Vinen moves effortlessly from social and economic issues to politics, from ideology to military history. . . . The writing is lively, the enthusiasm infectious, and the gift for bold, epigrammatic summary genuinely impressive." A canvas encompassing both the broad and the particular, this is a major work of history-and history writing at its best." show lessTags
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This is one of the best books about the twentieth century and really is directed at young people trying to understand the conflict and chaos in simple terms. It provides perspective and connections with what happened and why in a way I find insightful and meaningful to someone who has lived through the twentieth century. It discusses history by topics (fragments) and makes sense out of seemingly unrelated events and ties together connections that I missed living through it all. I recommend it to my friends.
Really more a collection of essays than a single narrative, but it is definitely one of those books that changed how I looked at the subject, in this case 20th century European history.
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Author Information
20 Works 615 Members
Richard Vinen is a professor of history at King's College, London. He is the author of academic works, most recently National Service: Conscription in Britain 1945-1963, which won the Wolfson History Prize, as well as A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century, The Unfree French, and Thatcher's Britain.
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- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 3
