It's hard to describe what exactly this book is. It's a combination of travelogue, personal memoir, history book, politic philosophy - all of those and yet none of those. Geert Mak, a Dutch journalist, spent the year final year of the last millennium travelling through Europe, writing about the people he met, the places he visited and the historical and political background, chronicling the changes of the century just past.

Of all centuries, the twentieth had the most impact on Europe - the century of the world wars, the Cold War and the Iron Curtain, the EEC and the EU, the euro, the religious conflicts, the genocides. These are all chronicled and more, from Berlin to Sarajevo, London to Prague, Istanbul to Moscow. But more than places and events, this is a book about the people of Europe in all their diversity, how they have experienced the twentieth century, how they see themselves in relation to the world around them, about how they react to other Europeans, about whether they even consider themselves European at all.

It's a wonderfully written book, very personable and engaging - a testament to both the author and the English translator. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to understand Europe a little better, and so much of what Geert Mak wrote, fifteen years ago now, still holds true today.