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Postwar

A History of Europe Since 1945

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award - One of the New York Times' Ten Best Books of the Year"Impressive . . . Mr. Judt writes with enormous authority." —The Wall Street Journal"Magisterial . . . It is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive, authoritative, and yes, readable postwar history." —The Boston Globe

Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world's most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep listeners through thirty-four nations and sixty years of political and cultural change—all in one integrated, enthralling narrative. The book incorporates international relations, domestic politics, ideas, social change, economic development, and culture—high and low. Every country has its chance to play the lead, and although the big themes are superbly handled—including the cold war, the love/hate relationship with America, cultural and economic malaise and rebirth, and the myth and reality of unification—none of them is allowed to overshadow the rich pageant that is the whole. Vividly and clearly written for the general listener, witty, opinionated, and full of fresh and surprising stories and asides, Postwar is a movable feast for lovers of history and lovers of Europe alike.

Both intellectually ambitious and compelling, thrilling in its scope and delightful in its small details, Postwar is a rare joy.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Understanding the complicated and extensive details of the post-WWII political mop-up in Europe requires a 43-hour investment. One could never imagine the endless issues of where to return refugees and how to try war criminals, implement the Marshall Plan, and establish 5,000 miles of borders. Few listeners can hope to absorb all the complex maneuverings, but this audiobook is still worthwhile. The task becomes more palatable with the voice of narrator Ralph Cosham. His smooth facility with the spoken word and linguistic nuance keeps one moving forward. He also rises to the author's verbal complexity, in English and in delivery of smatterings of foreign words. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 29, 2005
      This is the best history we have of Europe in the postwar period and not likely to be surpassed for many years. Judt, director of New York University's Remarque Institute, is an academic historian of repute and, more recently, a keen observer of European affairs whose powerfully written articles have appeared in the New York Times
      , the New York Review of Books
      and elsewhere. Here he combines deep knowledge with a sharply honed style and an eye for the expressive detail.
      Postwar
      is a hefty volume, and there are places where the details might overwhelm some readers. But the reward is always there: after pages on cabinet shuffles in some small country, or endless diplomatic negotiations concerning the fate of Germany or moves toward the European Union, the reader is snapped back to attention by insightful analysis and excellent writing. Judt shows that the dire human and economic costs of WWII shadowed Europe for a very long time afterward. Europeans and Americans recall the economic miracle, but it didn't really transform people's lives until the late 1950s, when a new, more individualized, consumer-oriented society began to appear in the West. But Postwar
      is not just a history of Western Europe. One of its great virtues is that it fully integrates the history of Eastern and Western Europe, and covers the small countries as well as the large and powerful ones.
      Judt is judicious, even a bit uncritical, in his appraisal of American involvement in Europe in the early postwar years, and he's scathing about Western intellectuals' accommodation to communism. His book focuses on cultural and intellectual life rather than the social experiences of factory workers or peasants, but it would probably be impossible to encompass all of it in one volume. Overall, this is history writing at its very best. Agent, Andrew Wylie.

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