This is a combination of travelogue and history book - a Dutch journalist spending a year travelling through Europe, writing about the people he meets, the places he visits and the historical background. It's wonderfully written, very personable and engaging, and very interesting. It's about how the people of Europe 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. I really enjoyed this book and I'd recommend it to anyone.