- Hardcover: 528 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday Books; 1 edition (Jan 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385497989
- ISBN-13: 978-0385497985
- Product Dimensions: 24.3 x 16.2 x 3.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,643,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
From the ashes of World War II to the advent of the Euro, the definitive history of the postwar rebirth of Europe by one of our finest young historians.
After a century of war, genocide, and ideological rivalry, Europe has at last emerged as a continent striving for stability, tolerance, democracy and prosperity. Yet the making of today’s Europe has not been easy. Its success was achieved only after a half-century of struggle between capitalism and Communism, between the forces of integration and the forces of nationalism, between the ideals of fairness and justice and a legacy of racism and inequality. In fact, as the recent rise of far-right extremism demonstrates, this contest is not over.
William Hitchcock’s sweeping new survey fills a critical gap in the writing on postwar Europe. The Struggle for Europe starts by assessing the impact of World War II on European politics and society and the foundations of Europe’s extraordinary economic recovery. It explores the role of the United States and the Soviet Union in shaping the postwar settlement and shows how Europeans often resisted and defied superpower dictates. In examining Cold War politics between 1945 and 1989, Hitchcock reveals the serious challenges mounted to the superpowers by such European leaders as Charles de Gaulle, Willy Brandt, and Margaret Thatcher. The book examines the collapse of Communism as an ideology and lays out the long-term factors that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Concluding chapters show that Europe has made great strides in fulfilling the promise of economic and political union but has yet to overcome the troubling legacy of racial, ethnic, and national antagonism.
Europe stands on the threshold of enormous political and economic change that will profoundly shape world affairs. Now more than ever there is a need to review the continent’s postwar history. The Struggle For Europe splendidly fulfills that need.
After a century of war, genocide, and ideological rivalry, Europe has at last emerged as a continent striving for stability, tolerance, democracy and prosperity. Yet the making of today’s Europe has not been easy. Its success was achieved only after a half-century of struggle between capitalism and Communism, between the forces of integration and the forces of nationalism, between the ideals of fairness and justice and a legacy of racism and inequality. In fact, as the recent rise of far-right extremism demonstrates, this contest is not over.
William Hitchcock’s sweeping new survey fills a critical gap in the writing on postwar Europe. The Struggle for Europe starts by assessing the impact of World War II on European politics and society and the foundations of Europe’s extraordinary economic recovery. It explores the role of the United States and the Soviet Union in shaping the postwar settlement and shows how Europeans often resisted and defied superpower dictates. In examining Cold War politics between 1945 and 1989, Hitchcock reveals the serious challenges mounted to the superpowers by such European leaders as Charles de Gaulle, Willy Brandt, and Margaret Thatcher. The book examines the collapse of Communism as an ideology and lays out the long-term factors that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Concluding chapters show that Europe has made great strides in fulfilling the promise of economic and political union but has yet to overcome the troubling legacy of racial, ethnic, and national antagonism.
Europe stands on the threshold of enormous political and economic change that will profoundly shape world affairs. Now more than ever there is a need to review the continent’s postwar history. The Struggle For Europe splendidly fulfills that need.
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First Sentence
THE WAR IN EUROPE ended officially on 8 May 1945, a date that marks the death of the Third Reich and the birth of a new Europe. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
THE WAR IN EUROPE ended officially on 8 May 1945, a date that marks the death of the Third Reich and the birth of a new Europe. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This fascinating book covers a much neglected topic with both style and substance. For too long, the history of the postwar period has been written with eyes on the superpowers, alone. What Hitchcock masterfully does is bring Europe back to the center of the story. He's made good use of the existing historiography, and has asked new questions of previously examined data. And, most importantly, the book is a good read--accessible, engaging and thought provoking. For anyone interested in the history of the Cold War and the post-Cold War, this book is essential reading.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Europe Mastered
10 Feb 2003
Format:Hardcover
This fascinating book covers a much neglected topic with both style and substance. For too long, the history of the postwar period has been written with eyes on the superpowers, alone. What Hitchcock masterfully does is bring Europe back to the center of the story. He's made good use of the existing historiography, and has asked new questions of previously examined data. And, most importantly, the book is a good read--accessible, engaging and thought provoking. For anyone interested in the history of the Cold War and the post-Cold War, this book is essential reading.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Book!
19 Mar 2003
Format:Hardcover
Dr. Hitchcock's work is an excellent source of information for anyone who is interested in recent European history. It especially helped me put current affairs in their historical context. Definitely worth the price of the book and more importantly, the time invested in reading it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Gives a sense of how much distance Europe has travelled
31 Oct 2004
Format:Hardcover
Lately, the economic performance of Europe has come in for some rather critical comments from commentators on both sides of the Atlantic, in particular in comparison with the performance of the US economy. To this, in defense, one could reply that the data are not exactly comparable or that life is about more than gdp figures. However the most interesting answer is found when looking back 50 years at the basket case Europe was, economically, politically and militarily.
At the end of World War 2, Europe counted tens of millions of displaced people, gdp per capita was only half that of the US, politically speaking Germany was a blank sheet, Stalin was closing the Iron Curtain and threatening the rest of Europe, despite Allied victory over Germany and Italy fascist dictatorships remained in place in Spain and Portugal, Greece was in a state of civil war and threatened to become another communist satellite state and Europe was a patchwork of nation states with relatively little internal trade flows.
This book describes how over a period of 50 years, Europe has become what it is today : at peace, democratic and prosperous (although more so for Western Europe than for Eastern Europe which is lagging).
Some of the chapters I found most interesting are how it was Europeans who begged Americans to stay militarily involved in Europe after the war in order to be a deterrent for Stalin, what exactly was the impact of the Marshall plan, how did the European Union originate, the importance of the Ostpolitik of the German chancellor Brandt, etc...
The author tries to remain as factual and neutral as possible about the EU as an institution, which may disappoint some readers. However I could not escape the conclusion myself that many of the positive changes during the last 50 years, such as the democratisation of Spain, Portugal and Greece, were at least indirectly in part due to the influence of the EU states on the rest of Europe. By making democracy and human rights a pre-condition for membership of the EU, the EU has forced many countries to become more like it : a civilised place to live, possibly not as rich as the US, but better off in general than anybody would have dared to forecast in the ruins of 1945.
At the end of World War 2, Europe counted tens of millions of displaced people, gdp per capita was only half that of the US, politically speaking Germany was a blank sheet, Stalin was closing the Iron Curtain and threatening the rest of Europe, despite Allied victory over Germany and Italy fascist dictatorships remained in place in Spain and Portugal, Greece was in a state of civil war and threatened to become another communist satellite state and Europe was a patchwork of nation states with relatively little internal trade flows.
This book describes how over a period of 50 years, Europe has become what it is today : at peace, democratic and prosperous (although more so for Western Europe than for Eastern Europe which is lagging).
Some of the chapters I found most interesting are how it was Europeans who begged Americans to stay militarily involved in Europe after the war in order to be a deterrent for Stalin, what exactly was the impact of the Marshall plan, how did the European Union originate, the importance of the Ostpolitik of the German chancellor Brandt, etc...
The author tries to remain as factual and neutral as possible about the EU as an institution, which may disappoint some readers. However I could not escape the conclusion myself that many of the positive changes during the last 50 years, such as the democratisation of Spain, Portugal and Greece, were at least indirectly in part due to the influence of the EU states on the rest of Europe. By making democracy and human rights a pre-condition for membership of the EU, the EU has forced many countries to become more like it : a civilised place to live, possibly not as rich as the US, but better off in general than anybody would have dared to forecast in the ruins of 1945.
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