To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949

To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949

by IanKershaw (Author)

Synopsis

TELEGRAPH BOOKS OF THE YEAR AND EDITOR'S CHOICE 2015 BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015 In the summer of 1914 most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it unhinged the continent's politics and beliefs in a way that took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its survivors, shocked that a civilization that had blandly assumed itself to be a model for the rest of the world had collapsed into a chaotic savagery beyond any comparison. In 1939 Europeans would initiate a second conflict that managed to be even worse - a war in which the killing of civilians was central and which culminated in the Holocaust. To Hell and Back tells this story with humanity, flair and originality. Kershaw gives a compelling narrative of events, but he also wrestles with the most difficult issues that the events raise - with what it meant for the Europeans who initiated and lived through such fearful times - and what this means for us.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 624
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Allen Lane
Published: 24 Sep 2015

ISBN 10: 0713990899
ISBN 13: 9780713990898

Media Reviews
Few authors would have the ability, and perhaps the determination, to take on the history of both world wars and the connecting decades at this level of sophistication, depth and breadth -- Robert Tombs * The Times *
It is true that his subject could hardly be more familiar, but it is a great achievement to cover such vast historical territory in under 600 pages and with such scrupulous balance, care and good sense. Other historians' books on the same period may be flashier or more provocative. But to read Kershaw on Europe's bloody century is to be driven through a ravaged landscape in the sleek, smooth comfort of a Rolls-Royce, guided by a historian who probably knows the territory better than anybody else on the planet -- Dominic Sandbrook * The Sunday Times *
Ian Kershaw is the historian that other academic historians most admire ... Prof Kershaw sits at the very top of his profession. He is one of a tiny handful of historians whose books will still be read in 100 years. So he takes a big risk by moving out of his area of expertise in order to write an all-encompassing history of Europe in the 20th century. His courage has paid off. To Hell and Back, the first of two volumes on the subject, is a triumph -- Laurence Rees * The Mail on Sunday *
A triumph -- Lawrence Rees * Mail on Sunday *
Kershaw leads his readers through this complex history in a clear and compelling manner -- Joanna Bourke * Prospect *
To Hell and Back should be required reading in every chancellery, every editorial cockpit and every place where peevish Euroskeptics do their thinking -- Harold Evans * The New York Times *
Authoritative -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Telegraph *
Author Bio
Ian Kershaw is the author of Hitler, Fateful Choices and The End.