Postwar Europe: An In-Depth Look at the History of Europe Since 1945

K. R. Aitchison: So much in here is things you thought you knew, and then you are reminded that no, your memory is partial and biased

United Kingdom on Sep 28, 2023

Francis FloresFrancis Flores: Magnificent one-volume work on the history of postwar Europe, as starters.

To say this is a generic and easy read would be a massive disservice to the author, because it's written like an academic text, the stuff you'd expect to find in college textbooks. The sheer volume of information laid out in Postwar are simply amazing, and at times overwhelming and confusing to understand - much more comprehend. This is not something you can simply finish within a week, or even a month. To the faint of heart this is a scary and intimidating book… but this is what gives it so much power and authority, actually.

The truth is, Tony Judt made a compelling case on the need for Europe to reexamine and reevaluate her own past, especially in her complicity in the Holocaust, and in the bloody Yugoslavian civil war of the 1990s. Both her highs - from the economic miracles of the 1950s, to the political dynamics behind the creation of the EU; to her lows - the indifference in the Yugoslavian crisis, her (in this case Western Europe) stalling of the applications of the Eastern European states, were all exposed and laid bare. Even the messy aftermath and the end of the colonial eras (UK,...

United States on Apr 23, 2023

Ajitesh SinghAjitesh Singh: Prof Tony Judt had worked on this book for more than a decade during which he saw the fall of Soviet Union. Defying the cold war perceptions he sets a position that could be called the first majestical survey based on ground of facts of postwar Europe. The book is engaging and has a wide view of the area instead of typical history focusing on three principal western European nations.

India on Dec 15, 2022

Boba: As much thought, effort, knowledge, research, etc. was invested in the subject of East Europe, that much and less was NOT invested in the subject of Yugoslavia. It is disappointing how badly was case of Yugoslavia presented. As it was written by an amateur writer.
In the chapters and paragraphs that are explaining Yugoslavia, there was not even an attempt to investigate, explore, analyze and synthesize the data, facts and resource texts, the way it was done for the rest of the East.
For example, it is stated that Yugoslavia's republic of Slovenia with 7% of population was contributing with about 25% of Yugoslavia's exports.
There is no attempt to investigate and explain, how or why was that? The way it is put in the book, it suggests that Slovenians are, taller, prettier, handsomer, smarter, cleverer ( at the end, this may be so... cynically I add), than the rest of Yugoslavs.
There is no attempt even to try to state the fact that Yugoslav economy was also the case of planned economy. The same as in the East bloc. Like in the case of East Germany, which was delegated to make computers for eastern bloc, or Czechoslovakia that was making steel.
Yugoslavia was, if you...

Canada on Dec 03, 2018

RK: Judt's exploration of postwar Europe is a fascinating examination of the events, people and culture that emerged after World War II. The book is at its best when examining the cultural changes that occurred in the European countries post war and the rise and fall of communism. It dispatches many of the immediate post-war myths about communist Europe and brings a slightly new perspective to that era.

The book suffers at times from a lack of editing and some self-indulgent bits. For example, Judt seems determined to let us know how many films he has watched in his lifetime and how this all relates to his central thesis. The ending also falls down where he starts to make some sweeping generalizations and empirical claims that seem to lack any data to support them. Reading this book well after it was first published it is clear that Judt did not foresee more recent events such as Brexit. The Epilogue is something that I will leave other readers to evaluate. It seemed at times overwrought to the point of almost being maudlin.

Overall, the book is worth the journey although I'm not sure it was worth the more than 800 pages between the covers. The photos were wonderful and...

United States on Jun 03, 2018

Debjit Sengupta: When you think of Europe, nature’s paradise , picturesque sights, romantic evenings, vibrant people, effervescent life and soccer league immediately comes into mind. Apart from these, there are products whose quality itself makes you identify it with an European nation. Perfection is the tag that goes with Swiss watches, German cars, Italian designer clothes, Belgian chocolates , French kitchenware and Danish furniture. There are more positive aspects that have been missed out but there is no point in discussing it here because the book is about something else. Behind the facade of aforementioned goodness and virtues, there is buried a very diabolic and virulent past, which is etched in surviving generation who have gone through the nightmares. For others, unfortunate past will be kept alive in the form of books, media and memoirs. The protracted World War-II which began with Hitler’s invasion of Poland in Sep’1939 and ended with it’s unconditional surrender in May’1945, was a total war which involved both military and civilians,and resulted in utter misery and desolation. Post World war offered a ray of hope but it was too feeble under prevailing circumstances. It...

India on Nov 28, 2017

G. Slade: Tony Judy describes his personal observation of modern Europe in this masterwork of modern history. At the start, you feel the pain and deprivation of the immediate postwar years; e.g. from the societal collapse in Germany and devastation of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to the economic malaise of postwar Britain to the booming optimism of the USA. He deftly describes the political conundrums of re-admitting a newly sovereign Federal Republic of Germany to a suspicious Europe. He gives us a picture of the mutual overtures between France and Germany that would form the basis for the modern EU. It is clear that without the influence of the USA, the Europe of today would simply not exist. The political and economic power of an America, always suspicious of alliances, was absolutely necessary to prevent French retribution against and/or a Soviet takeover of a defeated Germany or a return of neo-nazi rule. The postwar order was far from ideal, but as we see today, there was great wisdom in actions of the USA in precipitating the economic miracle in Western Europe.

Having not yet completed reading the book, I can't comment on the 1960s-2000s, but if Judt's description of...

United Kingdom on Oct 27, 2013

L. Glaesemann: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The twentieth century as I thought I knew it ended in 1989 after President Reagan proclaimed an end to the Cold War, an order which ultimately marked the unraveling and eventual downfall of Communism across Eastern Europe.

Many Americans remember where they were on 9/11. I was nineteen lounging in front of my parents' living room television when I witnessed east and West German youths using chisels and sledge hammers to gouge the iron flesh of the "Wall of Shame," a physical barrier that had separated them for thirty years. It was a monumental occasion but also surprising, considering that my generation had grown up accepting the unending conflict between Democracy and Communism, the "good guys" verses the "evil empire." How was one to explain such a transformative event?

To answer this question, I turned to Professor Judt's Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. It was on page 659 that I found an answer to my question: "Washington did not `bring down' Communism--Communism imploded of its own accord." The history that I had received in school had not meshed with what I had just read. Was it not American muscle that had brought...

United States on Jan 13, 2012