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Title: Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century by Mark Mazower ISBN: 0-679-75704-X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 14 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.85 (13 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Worth reading but incomplete
Comment: In general, I enjoyed reading DARK CONTINENT. Mazower's coverage of pre-WWII and of Hitler is thorough, intense and eye-opening. I consider this the highlight of the book.
I was disappointed by his coverage of 1950 and beyond. Mazower's coverage of the rise of the European Union and the fall of communism was not nearly as thorough or intense as his coverage of other topics.
However, a single 400 page volume on European 20th Century history can't cover everything. I recommend this book to anyone who wished to learn more about pre-WWII, Hitler's Third Reich and the first decade of the Cold War.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Look From a Distance
Comment: Mazzower's 400-page history of the 20th Century is an interesting account of some critical "blocs" of history, if you will . If you are looking for an incisive, in-depth analysis of specific events, this might not be the book for you. What Mazzower does is look at the political, social and economic ambiance of a certain period (pre-WW1, between the wars, post-WW2 and post-communism) and see, once the pounding of Fascism and Communism is over, what kind of political, economic and social environment has emerged from the ashes. In other words it looks at the passage from A to B without paying too much attention to that which lies in between - the "events." But Mazzower's analysis of the A's and B's - politics, economics and social conditions - is very thorough and helps better explain the bumpy road between the two points.
This is a tableau painted with large brushes and sweeping daubs (the color is mainly red). If you look at it from a certain distance, you see a picture emerging; you descry trends, and might even see millions of miniature, ant-like beings whose lives are being altered, if not atrociously ended, forever.
For detailed analyses of the critical periods, you should turn to other books which specialize on a specific period. (For the fall of Communism - the weak point in this book - two works come to mind: Michael Dobbs' Down With Big Brother, and David Reminck's Lenin's Tomb; for WW1 and WW2, Keegan is a good start).
Rating: 5
Summary: europe painted black
Comment: This is an excellent book, well worth the time. On the other hand, it is not a good introduction to 20th C. European history, it is too polemical (my copy has a blurb recommending it as survey reading for undergraduates, something which it definitely is not - the ideal reader should already have a good idea of European history before tackling this).
Bad points:
I nearly took a star off (or even two stars off) for the sentence in chapter 8 which attempts to allocate (at least part of) the blame for the Stalinisation of postwar eastern Europe to the west.
He generally seems to go easy on the excesses of communism, and Stalinism in particular: yes, there is plenty of condemnation, but also a slight impression of omlettes and broken eggs. (Note to Prof. Mazower: that would be 35 million eggs, according to Alexander Yakovlev's best estimate).
The discussion of the post-war west degenerates into a rant in places, where the first half of the book is a much more considered and convincing polemic. Something a little less intemperate would have made a more effective point.
It is difficult to say for certain in a book that attempts to cover so much in 400 pages, but I get the impression that Mazower's grasp of economics and economic history is not on par with his social or political history (that omlette again).
The analytic epilogue is weak.
Good points: the (resolutely pessimistic) argument for most of its course is well argued and provoking.
The discussion of the fall of communism, if isolated from the discussion of the West that came before is very good.
The central argument, which ties up with an analysis of the disaster of the collapse of Yugoslavia (where Mazower is on home ground) as the last working out of WWI is elegant and provoking.
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Title: A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century by Richard Vinen ISBN: 0306811790 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 24 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945-2002 by William I. Hitchcock ISBN: 0385497989 Publisher: Doubleday Books Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Rethinking Europe`s Future (Century Foundation Book) by David P. Calleo ISBN: 069111367X Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Twentieth-Century Europe (University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Vol 9) by John W. Boyer, Julius Kirshner ISBN: 0226069540 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1988 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The European Rescue of the Nation State ; Second Edition by Alan S. Milward, George Brennan, Federico Romero ISBN: 041521629X Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $43.95 |
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