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A review by unisonlibrarian
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt
5.0
As much as I enjoyed this book, it was a relief to finish. At 1000 pages it was starting to give me back problems from carrying it round for so long. Tony Judt is a left-leaning historian and intellectual, and this is his account of Europe since 1945. The two main themes are the shadow World War II cast over the continent, and the ideological conflict between Communism and Capitalism that collapsed along with the Berlin Wall in 1989.
In this totemic history Judt covers nationality and nationalisms, ethnic conflict, social deprivation, democracy, culture and political progression. He charts the change from a Europe that could do nothing than enter in to brutal and mostly needless wars in to one that has become obsessed with interaction and unity, but not at all costs, at least not at the cost of the nation state. We see the idiocy of various European leaders, the mendacity of others and the bravery of a few that have created the sphere in which we live today as entities within a multi-ethnic land of plenty.
The author however does not look at recent history through rose tinted spectacles. With the dawning of Thatcherism and individualism it is true that nations have become richer, people however have become poorer. How was this so? Through the lack of a genuine redistributive network and the failure of genuine social democracy that got caught in the headlights of unrestricted capitalism. Communism too is given a beating by Judt, at least as far as the European models of it go. Stalinism is the main target and it was a lost opportunity when Tito emerged as strong enough to challenge Stalin only to become him at a later juncture. Once Stalin had gone, his shadow remained in the policies that his generation echoed once it was “their turn” to be the party chairman.
Religion is given short shrift and there are plenty of nods to bygone intellectuals and academics who stood up to the regimes in which they lived and in rare occurrences, took power. Such things hardly seem possible now within the Europe that has bought in to the American consensus of celebrity politics and the dumbing down of intellectualism. He argues that despite internecine conflicts that Europe has become a much safer place since World War II. While factually correct, it would be interesting to see if the wider world outside Europe is any safer, with many wars, slaughtering and ethnic cleansing exercises coming about in former European colonial bodies, and at times with the tacit knowledge or agreement of the forgotten colonial masters.
There is, however, little to find fault with in this book. Some countries could have been dissected more closely, but as I mentioned before at 1000 pages it is already large enough. It finishes with an excellent epilogue concerning European memory, where Judt argues that the country that needed, and to some extent still needs to exorcise its past through truth and reconciliation is actually France, and not Germany who painfully came to terms with their role in World War II long ago. France has continually tried to separate itself from Vichy France, when in fact the two were interchangeable. Jacques Chirac made the first moves and there has been steady progression. There remains, inevitably, some way to go. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand recent global history. One cannot understand the 20th century without a working knowledge of Europe. It may be the last century in which European events dominated the world stage, but what events they were!
In this totemic history Judt covers nationality and nationalisms, ethnic conflict, social deprivation, democracy, culture and political progression. He charts the change from a Europe that could do nothing than enter in to brutal and mostly needless wars in to one that has become obsessed with interaction and unity, but not at all costs, at least not at the cost of the nation state. We see the idiocy of various European leaders, the mendacity of others and the bravery of a few that have created the sphere in which we live today as entities within a multi-ethnic land of plenty.
The author however does not look at recent history through rose tinted spectacles. With the dawning of Thatcherism and individualism it is true that nations have become richer, people however have become poorer. How was this so? Through the lack of a genuine redistributive network and the failure of genuine social democracy that got caught in the headlights of unrestricted capitalism. Communism too is given a beating by Judt, at least as far as the European models of it go. Stalinism is the main target and it was a lost opportunity when Tito emerged as strong enough to challenge Stalin only to become him at a later juncture. Once Stalin had gone, his shadow remained in the policies that his generation echoed once it was “their turn” to be the party chairman.
Religion is given short shrift and there are plenty of nods to bygone intellectuals and academics who stood up to the regimes in which they lived and in rare occurrences, took power. Such things hardly seem possible now within the Europe that has bought in to the American consensus of celebrity politics and the dumbing down of intellectualism. He argues that despite internecine conflicts that Europe has become a much safer place since World War II. While factually correct, it would be interesting to see if the wider world outside Europe is any safer, with many wars, slaughtering and ethnic cleansing exercises coming about in former European colonial bodies, and at times with the tacit knowledge or agreement of the forgotten colonial masters.
There is, however, little to find fault with in this book. Some countries could have been dissected more closely, but as I mentioned before at 1000 pages it is already large enough. It finishes with an excellent epilogue concerning European memory, where Judt argues that the country that needed, and to some extent still needs to exorcise its past through truth and reconciliation is actually France, and not Germany who painfully came to terms with their role in World War II long ago. France has continually tried to separate itself from Vichy France, when in fact the two were interchangeable. Jacques Chirac made the first moves and there has been steady progression. There remains, inevitably, some way to go. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand recent global history. One cannot understand the 20th century without a working knowledge of Europe. It may be the last century in which European events dominated the world stage, but what events they were!