In twee etappes gelezen. Ik kan me alleen maar aansluiten bij de vele superlatieven in de recensies. Hier en daar achterhaalde historische gegevens, maar kom. Knappe caleidoscoop van de twintigste eeuw. Sterkste stukken over de tweede wereldoorlog. Vanaf 1950 ligt het tempo een beetje te hoog en zijn er (onvermijdelijk) meer persoonlijke indrukken.

Het is erg eenvoudig. Dit boek moet je gelezen hebben om ook maar iets van het verleden, het heden en de toekomst te begrijpen.

Enkel het gedeelte over WO 1 gelezen, maar kom. Het was wel erg interessant geschreven.

This is an awe-inspiring book. The author spent 1999 traveling around Europe looking to understand and tell its common history. What does someone from Stockholm have in common with someone from rural Poland, or the coast of Portugal? Beginning in Amsterdam at the dawn of the twentieth century, and winding up in December of 1999 in Sarajevo, Mak draws together the disparate threads of each country's history, into a broad picture of what has made Europe what it is today. I loved this massive book. It pulled together all those bits and pieces I've acquired through the years, from classes, newspapers, articles and books, and showed me where they belongs in the bigger picture.

Mak travels from place to place, centering each chapter on both a location and an event from the twentieth century. He talks to and looks at both ordinary people and those at the center of great events. He looks at how an event is both influenced by what had happened before and how it, in turn, shapes what occurs later. He looks at those obvious pivotal moments, like those fatal shots fired by Gavrilo Princip on the quayside in Sarajevo, as well as more obscure things like what happened to Jean McConville of West Belfast. The great moments are made personal by telling the story of someone caught up in it all, whether the son of a former ruler or a young mother trying to keep her family safe.

I had to read this book slowly. It is thick with connections and how the hurried decisions of a government can affect the lives of ordinary people forever. It was also an emotionally wrenching book. I'm not sure how he did it, but Mak managed to make both troop movements and strategical decisions intertwine with how that would have been experienced by an ordinary soldier or a civilian watching his house burn.

Geert Mak is Dutch, and so a little removed from the patriotic tales woven into the lives of the citizens of great powers. He was able to look at one side of a conflict then drive on a few miles and look at that conflict from the other side. He doesn't look to find bad guys or good guys, but to find out why people acted as they did, on imperfect information influenced by their own histories.

I'm a little sorry I've finally finished On Europe, but I'm looking forward to deepening my understanding of Europe's last century as well as someday rereading this book.

Read this book years ago. Re-read it. Found it even more impressive to read in our current political climate. Many insights in how peace can dissappear overnight.