The Global Age

Starred review from March 4, 2019
In this brilliant sequel to his history of earlier-20th-century Europe (To Hell and Back), historian Kershaw profiles a Europe that has emerged into the 21st century calmer and more prosperous than in the century before, though with an uncertain future. He relates in detail at least five key stories: Western Europe’s remarkable postwar economic recovery; the division into NATO and Soviet satellite states; the slow but steady move toward economic integration and the European Union; the fall of the communist satellite states and then the U.S.S.R.; and the early-21st-century economic, migration, and Brexit-related crises. The work’s strengths include its evocation of changes in mentalities and economic conditions (recalling that in 1950, racism was strong, homosexuality and abortion were outlawed in many places, dwellings were “often lacking hot water, or indoor toilet facilities,” and “food was still widely rationed”); its keen understanding of economic history (for example, the postrecession politics of austerity); and avoiding neglect of more minor players, such as the Netherlands and Turkey. Writing a 67-year history of a continent with more than 40 countries is a monumental task, and Kershaw has done so with unflagging narrative drive and fine prose. Agent: Sarah Scarlett, Nancy Yost Literary.

February 15, 2019
The second installment of the eminent English historian's comprehensive overview of modern European history.Kershaw's latest, following To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949 (2015), is equally as massive as the previous volume, as he explores "the most striking legacy of the war for the immediate post-war world," which was "twofold: Europe was not a continent divided down the middle by the Iron Curtain; and the new age was a nuclear era, with both of the superpowers in possession of super-weapons of mass destruction." The astounding advances in material wealth and medical well-being across Europe, thanks to the miraculous economic recovery from the war, were accompanied by provincial attitudes that would take another generation to explode. These included blatant race-based discrimination; increased influence of Christian churches; and intolerance regarding homosexuality, women's rights, and abortion, among other human rights concerns. While the Soviet Union was pursuing dominance over its satellite nations ("The Clamp" is Kershaw's chapter title), Europe was developing a middle class well into the 1970s ("Good Times"), encompassing the newly modernized life enjoyed by postwar parents. The baby boomers, however, took their parents to task ("Culture after the Catastrophe"), asking questions about their participation in World War II, agitating against the Vietnam War and general anti-imperialism, and often exploding into violence, as in the student riots in Paris in 1968 and the Baader-Meinhof Group in Germany. Kershaw sees 1973 and the Arab oil embargo as the tipping point, when the price of gas soared and the economy tanked. "Change was on the way," he writes. "But the oil crisis was a massive accelerant." The author notes that in 1950, oil had provided 8.5 percent of Western Europe's energy supplies, while 20 years later, it had risen to 60 percent. In the latter portion of the book, Kershaw directs his considerable talents to the fall of the Berlin Wall, reunification of Germany, and the "global exposure" of newly vulnerable Europe. Though Kershaw doesn't offer a wealth of new material, this is a terrific roundup by a trusted historian, featuring an extensive bibliography for further reading.

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Starred review from March 15, 2019
Nearly 20 years after Francis Fukuyama proclaimed that the collapse of the Soviet Empire meant the end of history, Kershaw shows in this capacious account of Europe since 1950 that history continues to gyrate and perplex. Yes, readers learn just how the end of the Cold War discredited communism and liberated Eastern Europe, but they also see the emergence of a new historical trajectory with the 1992 signing in Maastricht, the Netherlands, of an international treaty anticipating a European Union, fostering unprecedented Continental prosperity. Kershaw recognizes deep tensions in this bold new union, however, manifested in the post-9/11 jihadist attacks in Spain, France, and England; in the Greek debt crisis in 2009-13; and in the Brexit vote of 2016. While perceptively scrutinizing the large-scale political and economic forces unifying and dividing Europe, Kershaw discerns the lasting influence of remarkable individuals, including Adenauer, de Gaulle, and Gorbachev. And in the decline of institutional religion among increasingly consumerist and individualistic Europeans, readers discern a fundamental cultural realignment weakening community bonds. Kershaw prudently declines to predict the future of a still-evolving continent, but he does underscore the looming difficulty of maintaining social cohesion among aging European nations trying to absorb large immigrant populations. An ambitious and thought-provoking chronicle.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from April 1, 2019

Kershaw's sequel to his history of the two world wars (To Hell and Back) poses narrative challenges the first book did not: a divided Europe, especially with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, both in 1991. Since then, the continent has experienced a wave of change: the emergence of a global economy along with a major recession, increasing immigration, and the rise of far-right political parties. Earlier solutions to social issues, grounded in Keynesianism, are no longer sustainable, especially with the prevalence of neoconservatism. Now the future is unsure. In earlier writings on the Third Reich, Kershaw argued that structural changes played a greater role in Adolf Hitler's rise than did Hitler himself, but he understands the power a properly placed individual holds at points, such as Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet empire. This is a generous history--truly Europe-wide, and not just western Europe writ large. Readers will learn a great deal about countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Finland as well. VERDICT Likely to be the basic text on European history for some time. It's a plus that it's well written and tells a fascinating a tale. [See Prepub Alert, 10/22/18.]--David Keymer, Cleveland

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2019

In this final volume of the "Penguin History of Europe" series, following Kershaw's top-selling To Hell and Back, the renowned historian investigates Europe from the end of World War II to today. As he shows, even with the arrival of prosperity, the war's catastrophes continued to shape thinking for decades, with fractures healing with the fall of the Wall, Then came the financial crisis.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.