| Plot Summary of Europe: A History |
|---|
"This is a hefty volume -- more than 1100 pages of text, and several hundred more of notes -- but the only dry thing about it is the humor (of which there are discreet but lovely examples). Davies, a British scholar who specializes in Eastern Europe, has written a comprehensive study of the chunk of land we call Europe from prehistoric times to the fall of the Soviet Union. It's slow, detailed, but fascinating going, and Davies breaks up the text with "time capsules": boxes of digressions from a couple paragraphs to a couple pages which focus on specific subjects, from the history of printing to the origin of the term "jeans." Lots of details about individuals and mass movements stick in the memory, such as the way French Republican officers executed great numbers of revolutionaries in 1794 Nantes by repeatedly sinking a ship with prisoners chained aboard. Davies has an eye for irony and humor: Lenin owned a Rolls Royce, he notes; medieval Constantinople gathered sacred relics such as "two fragments of the True Cross ... the Crown of Thorns, the Sacred Lance, the Virgin's Girdle, and several heads of John the Baptist"; and the Nazis championed "the tall, slim, blond, Nordic type -- as tall as Goebbels, as slim as Goering, as blond as Hitler...." Unless you're retired, don't expect to dispose of this in a week or two; I dipped into it for months on end."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
|
|
| Review Analysis of Europe: A History |
|---|
|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
|
|
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Kind Of History
Time of history:
- 1950's
- 20th century
- 19th century
- 18th century
- 17th century
- 1000-1600 AD
- Ancient Roman Era
- Ancient Greek Era
- 0-1000 AD
- 2000-0 BC
History of a people?
Yes
Nationality?
- EUROPE
Subjects of this Historical Account
Is the portrayal sympathetic?
- Neutral
Setting
Europe
Yes
Big City?
Yes
City:
- London
- Paris
- Berlin
- Moscow
- Vienna
- Rome
- Athens
- Istanbul
Small town?
Yes
If applicable, liberal/conservative?
- Historian is moderately liberal
Style
How much gore?
- 4 ()
How fast-paced is the book?
- 1 ()
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Book makes you feel...
- thoughtful
How much focus on stories of individuals?
- Focuses mostly on the people/nation level
How much romance?
- 3 ()
Is book humorous?
Yes
How much humor?
- 2 ()
If humorous, kind of humor
- eccentric personalities
- Dry-cynical
Minor characters feature lots of:
- deranged people
- military
- prostitutes
- diplomats
- politicians
- blue collar types
Maps necessary?
- Necessary maps provided
Length of book
- 450 pages+
How much emphasis on small details?
- 3 ()
|
|
