Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe
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Review
`An original and stimulating masterpiece' --Roger Morgan, The Times Higher Education
`Davies is certainly one of the best British historical writers of the past half century, and every gauntlet he throws down is bejewelled' --Timothy Snyder, Guardian
`Vanished Kingdoms gives full rein to [Davies'] historical imagination and enthusiasms, imparting a powerful sense of places lost in time' --Economist
`Vanished Kingdoms is great history and also great art. It is written with verve, passion and profound empathy. --David Marquand, New Statesman
`There are few better ways of coming to an understanding of the multilayered splendours and horrors of Europe's past'
--John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph
`Davies is certainly one of the best British historical writers of the past half century, and every gauntlet he throws down is bejewelled' --Timothy Snyder, Guardian
`Vanished Kingdoms gives full rein to [Davies'] historical imagination and enthusiasms, imparting a powerful sense of places lost in time' --Economist
`Vanished Kingdoms is great history and also great art. It is written with verve, passion and profound empathy. --David Marquand, New Statesman
`There are few better ways of coming to an understanding of the multilayered splendours and horrors of Europe's past'
--John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph
Product Description
'The past is a foreign country' has become a truism, yet we often forget that the past is different from the present in many unfamiliar ways, and historical memory is extraordinarily imperfect. We habitually think of the European past as the history of countries which exist today - France, Germany, Britain, Russia and so on - but often this actually obstructs our view of the past, and blunts our sensitivity to the ever-changing political landscape.
Europe's history is littered with kingdoms, duchies, empires and republics which have now disappeared but which were once fixtures on the map of their age - 'the Empire of Aragon' which once dominated the western Mediterranean; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for a time the largest country in Europe; the successive kingdoms (and one duchy) of Burgundy, much of whose history is now half-remembered - or half-forgotten - at best. This book shows the reader how to peer through the cracks of mainstream history writing and listen to the echoes of lost realms across the centuries.
How many British people know that Glasgow was founded by the Welsh in a period when neither England nor Scotland existed? How many of us will remember the former Soviet Union in a few generations' time? Will our own United Kingdom become a distant memory too? As in his earlier celebrated books Europe: a history and The Isles, Norman Davies aims to subvert our established view of what seems familiar, and urges us to look and think again. This stimulating surprising book, full of unexpected stories, observations and connections, gives us a fresh and original perspective on the history of Europe.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
162 of 166 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is really 15 detailed European history books in one. I doubt if there's anyone on the planet qualified to critique such a diverse collection of histories, some of them rather obscure. Certainly not me. So I'll just do my part by describing what's in the book (at the moment there's no "look inside" feature above).
The chapters describe the history of: the Visigoths in France and Spain; southwestern Scotland in the 5th-12th centuries, but really addressing British history in general at that time; Burgundy in France; Aragon in northern Spain; the area that is now Belarus and Lithuania; Byzantium; Prussia; northern Italy; Galicia (the one that was in what is now southern Poland and Ukraine); Italy around Florence in the 19th century; Saxe-Coburg in Germany; Montenegro, which used to be part of Yugoslavia; the short-lived (one day!) Rusyn republic in what is now Ukraine, 1939; Ireland since 1916; and the Soviet Union.
Each chapter has three parts: a description of the area today; the history which Prof. Davies wants to cover; and an assessment of how well the "vanished kingdom" is remembered.
To include Ireland in a book on "vanished kingdoms" is a bit of a stretch, and part 3 of that chapter ranges far beyond what is remembered about Ireland. Part 3 is actually an essay on the future of the United Kingdom which I hope the author will extract and get published in one of the quality newspapers for wider appreciation.
Lots of end notes, many of them website URLs for instant gratification. The notes at the back of the book are listed by the page number of the text, rather than just the chapter number, which makes the notes much easier to find.
This book will probably never be listed anywhere under the rubric of "genealogy," but if your ancestry is from any of those places, I think your will definitely learn things you didn't know. I'm sending a copy to my brother-in-law, whose ancestry is Prussian.
The chapters describe the history of: the Visigoths in France and Spain; southwestern Scotland in the 5th-12th centuries, but really addressing British history in general at that time; Burgundy in France; Aragon in northern Spain; the area that is now Belarus and Lithuania; Byzantium; Prussia; northern Italy; Galicia (the one that was in what is now southern Poland and Ukraine); Italy around Florence in the 19th century; Saxe-Coburg in Germany; Montenegro, which used to be part of Yugoslavia; the short-lived (one day!) Rusyn republic in what is now Ukraine, 1939; Ireland since 1916; and the Soviet Union.
Each chapter has three parts: a description of the area today; the history which Prof. Davies wants to cover; and an assessment of how well the "vanished kingdom" is remembered.
To include Ireland in a book on "vanished kingdoms" is a bit of a stretch, and part 3 of that chapter ranges far beyond what is remembered about Ireland. Part 3 is actually an essay on the future of the United Kingdom which I hope the author will extract and get published in one of the quality newspapers for wider appreciation.
Lots of end notes, many of them website URLs for instant gratification. The notes at the back of the book are listed by the page number of the text, rather than just the chapter number, which makes the notes much easier to find.
This book will probably never be listed anywhere under the rubric of "genealogy," but if your ancestry is from any of those places, I think your will definitely learn things you didn't know. I'm sending a copy to my brother-in-law, whose ancestry is Prussian.
113 of 117 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Although he was the first critic of `Whig history', the late Herbert Butterfield thought it was more or less inevitable that modern historians should write some version of it. By this he meant history which was written from a modern point of view and showed the growth of some institution or idea which we approve of now (for example, Parliamentary sovereignty, or modern science, or religious toleration). Norman Davies shows that it is possible to write about countries which no longer exist in a way that is entirely lacking in Whiggery.
Davies made his name with a history of Poland, where he is currently professor. He is used to seeing things from a European, and specifically an Eastern European, point of view. He was always going to be less sanguine about the idea of progress than most traditional historians of England and the British Isles. We have been much more fortunate. The tragedies which have afflicted the countries which we now think of as Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Germany make it difficult to be Whiggish, or even optimistic about Mankind as a whole.
Davies has no grand theory as to why states vanish. He is not Marx or Toynbee, nor a determinist of any kind, though he believes that all states have the seeds of decay within them. History is infinitely unpredictable. He does, however, have some prejudices. For example, he thinks that it is almost inevitable that Scotland will vote for independence and that the United Kingdom will vanish as a state; and he is a great fan of the European Union.
Davies has pointed out that there have been as many as 250 `vanished kingdoms'. This book deals with fifteen, drawing examples from various periods and different parts of Europe. In fact, he works his way from West to East, weaving travelogues into the history as he goes. This worked for me, although others may find it too personal. Overall, the book is a fascinating introduction to the history of many strange lands and peoples, some of them not far so removed from us in space and time, others very remote indeed. The late J.H. Hexter wrote that the purpose and pleasure of history was not that it explained the present, but that it taught us about ourselves. Norman Davies has succeeded brilliantly in doing that.
One warning though. The maps do not reproduce very well in the Kindle edition (2011); and Davies's maps are an essential part of the story.
Stephen Cooper
Davies made his name with a history of Poland, where he is currently professor. He is used to seeing things from a European, and specifically an Eastern European, point of view. He was always going to be less sanguine about the idea of progress than most traditional historians of England and the British Isles. We have been much more fortunate. The tragedies which have afflicted the countries which we now think of as Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Germany make it difficult to be Whiggish, or even optimistic about Mankind as a whole.
Davies has no grand theory as to why states vanish. He is not Marx or Toynbee, nor a determinist of any kind, though he believes that all states have the seeds of decay within them. History is infinitely unpredictable. He does, however, have some prejudices. For example, he thinks that it is almost inevitable that Scotland will vote for independence and that the United Kingdom will vanish as a state; and he is a great fan of the European Union.
Davies has pointed out that there have been as many as 250 `vanished kingdoms'. This book deals with fifteen, drawing examples from various periods and different parts of Europe. In fact, he works his way from West to East, weaving travelogues into the history as he goes. This worked for me, although others may find it too personal. Overall, the book is a fascinating introduction to the history of many strange lands and peoples, some of them not far so removed from us in space and time, others very remote indeed. The late J.H. Hexter wrote that the purpose and pleasure of history was not that it explained the present, but that it taught us about ourselves. Norman Davies has succeeded brilliantly in doing that.
One warning though. The maps do not reproduce very well in the Kindle edition (2011); and Davies's maps are an essential part of the story.
Stephen Cooper
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an excellent look at overlooked entities in European history. Davies is through, a wonderful narrative writer, and one who obviously delights in unearthing interesting informtaion. The discussion of the Aragon and its impact on Europe alone is worth the book, and his take on the break up of the United Kingdom (he states, truthfully, that it began in 1922 courtesy of one Michael Collins) will provoke thought, debate and perhaps anticipation. I highly recommend this.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A curate's egg
On the whole, this is fascinating. But the introductory sections of each chapter (on the modern areas which were formerly part of the "vanished kingdoms") often read like the sort... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. A. J. Norman
Recalling Forgotten Europe
Vanished Kingdoms by Norman Davies
Norman Davies demonstrates incredible skill and knowledge as he opens up for us whole swathes of history covering vast periods of... Read more
Norman Davies demonstrates incredible skill and knowledge as he opens up for us whole swathes of history covering vast periods of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by S Lowrie
uneasy lies the head with the crown
vanished kindgoms the history of half forgotten europe a history of europes vanished states from arelat -burgundy and tolosa to napoleonic eturia, poland lithuania piedmont sardina... Read more
Published 2 months ago by mark1000
Excellent book
A very scholarly book. I am enjoying dipping into it for information about the places where many of my ancestors came from. It is a worthwhile addition for any family historian.
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. Sheila Mitchell
Europe Version 3.09
There is a old Reader digest DIY book, from the 1960s, in the house here. It is filled with project after project on how to modernise your home. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Michael Layden
Looks at empires that came and went.
Norman Davies presents a hefty package with his new book, "Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations". Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jill Meyer
Excellent!
The best histories are always slightly eccentric - and this one certainly is eccentric. Its range is great, both in time and space: ancient, modern and trans-European, it deals... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk
Great gift
Given as a Christmas present to my mother, who knows a thing or two about European history. She loves it, says it's full of all sorts of things she only half-knew or wasn't aware... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Simon Wilkinson-Blake
Fascinating but needs a firm editor
This 'history of half-forgotten Europe' seems to be cobbled together from various scholarly articles that Professor Davies has assembled over the years; in the Introduction he... Read more
Published 4 months ago by daja
Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe
This magnificent big book came as good and prompt as expected. Now the time to enjoy every page by page to its end.
Published 4 months ago by N. YONETANI
Listmania!
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