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  • Published: 2 August 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099542032
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 960
  • RRP: $39.99

Postwar

A History of Europe Since 1945




A magisterial and acclaimed history of Europe in our time, by one of our leading historians, shortlisted for the Pulitzer and Samuel Johnson Prizes.

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER AWARD

A magisterial and acclaimed history of post-war Europe, from Germany to Poland, from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, selected as one of New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year

Europe in 1945 was drained. Much of the continent was devastated by war, mass slaughter, bombing and chaos. Large areas of Eastern Europe were falling under Soviet control, exchanging one despotism for another. Today, the Soviet Union is no more and the democracies of the European Union reach as far as the borders of Russia itself. Postwar tells the rich and complex story of how we got from there to here, demystifying Europe's recent history and identity, of what the continent is and has been.

‘It is hard to imagine how a better - and more readable - history of the emergence of today's Europe from the ashes of 1945 could ever be written…All in all, a real masterpiece’ Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler

  • Published: 2 August 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099542032
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 960
  • RRP: $39.99

About the author

Tony Judt

Date: 2005-02-17
Professor Tony Judt was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, the New Republic, the New York Times and many other journals in Europe and the US. His books include Ill Fares the Land, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century, and Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, which was one of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2005, the winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He died in August, 2010 at the age of 62.

At the time of his death, Tony Judt was the Erich Maria Remarque Professor in European Studies at New York University. In 1996 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2007 a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. In 2009 Judt was awarded a Special Orwell Prize for Lifetime Achievement for his contribution to British Political writing. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005) was a runner up for the 2006 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.

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Praise for Postwar

Judt's brilliant study of Europe after the Second World War is unlikely to be surpassed... Tony Judt has written the standard reference work on European post-war history

Irish Times

A masterly survey of how today's Europe rose from the ashes and exhaustion of 1945

New Statesman, 'Books of the Year'

Most impressive... Postwar, Tony Judt's magnificent history of Europe after The Second World War, covers vast tracts of ground with extraordinary skill, weaving together the stories of West and East in a single, compelling narrative

Evening Standard, 'Books of the Year'

A superb work of synthesis, analysis and reflection

Times Literary Supplement, 'Books of the Year'

With Postwar... Judt moves up into the ranks of the grand simplificateurs. He dares to expound the sum total of Europe since 1945 in a seamless narrative... This is history-writing with a human face, as well as with brainpower... It is most unlikely that Judt's achievement will be superseded soon

Guardian

Masterly and exhilarating... Judt has a fine eye for telling detail... This is a splendid book to which no review can do proper justice

Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Spectator

Truly superb - a magnificent achievement. It is hard to imagine how a better - and more readable - history of the emergence of today's Europe from the ashes of 1945 could ever be written; I can't think of another work on the latter half of the 20th century that comes close to matching it... All in all, a real masterpiece

Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler