Unflinching, intelligent, dark continent provides a provocative vision of europs past, present, and futureand confirms mark mazower as a historian of valuable gifts. About dark continent a useful, important book that reminds us, at the right time, how hard european unity has been, and how much care must be taken to avoid the terrible. Europes twentieth century ebook written by mark mazower. Mazower emphasized the fragility of democracy and argued that a democratic europe was just one of many possible outcomes of the european 20th century. The bloody geopolitical history of twentiethcentury europe is the subject of mark mazowers dark continent. The book deals with european history from the end of world war i until the yugoslav wars in the 1990s. The central theme of the book is struggle for unity in the continent of europe during the 20th century, an era which.
A useful, important book that reminds us, at the right time, how hard european unity has been, and how much care must be taken to avoid the terrible old temptations. Dark continent by mark mazower, 9780679757047, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Stripping away the comforting myths and illusions that we have grown up with since the second world war, mark mazower presents an unflinching account of a continent locked in a finely balanced struggle between tolerance and racial extermination, imperial ambition and national selfdetermination, liberty and the tyrannies of. Mark mazower this book is an account of a continent locked in a struggle between tolerance and racial extermination, imperial ambition and national selfdetermination, liberty and the tyrannies of right and left. Nazi rule in occupied europe, mazower compared nazi german occupation policy in different european countries. The end of the first world war saw old empires swept away and. This well written book is an overview and analysis of the nazi occupation of europe. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read dark continent.
The end of the first world war saw old empires swept away and the opportunity to build a better society from the ruins. Mark mazower is a historian and writer, specialising in modern greece, 20th century europe and international history. Stripping away the comforting myths and illusions that we have grown up with since the second world war, mark mazower presents an unflinching account of a continent locked in a finely balanced struggle between tolerance and racial extermination, imperial ambition and national selfdetermination, liberty and the tyrannies. Dark continent is not an easy read, but it is a good one with numerous insights to the time between 1919 and the 1990s. Dark continent is neither an introductory survey, a comprehensive textbook nor an ingratiating good read. Dark continent develops these themes with an abundance of examples drawn from an impressive range of sources in many languages.
Read dark continent europes twentieth century by mark mazower available from rakuten kobo. Dark continent is a searching history of europes most brutal century. Dark continent provides an alternative history of the twentieth century, one in which the triumph of democracy was anything but a forgone conclusion and fascism and communism provided rival political solutions that battled and sometimes triumphed in an effort to determine the course the continent would take. Europes twentieth century is a nonfiction book by mark mazower. When the smoke cleared from the ruins of the second world war, many observers assumed that europe as it had been known for centuries had come to an end. Unflinching, intelligent, dark continent provides a provocative vision of europes past, present, and futureand confirms mark mazower as a historian of valuable gifts. From awardwinning historian mark mazower, dark continent. The book examines the notion of europe as a united continent and that despite the european union. He traces the battle for supremacy between liberal democracy, fascism, and communism in. The background to this is the subject of mark mazowers book. For him, this centurys brutal first half with its bloody legacy of communism and fascism, world war, genocide, and ethnic cleansing defined european identity as much as postwar liberal democracy did thereafter. Europes twentieth century retells the story of a century of division, charting the struggles of rival ideologies to create a new world order for mankind.
Mazower has written a timely book dissecting the notion of europe just as the eu launches its single currency. Yet the result was division and bloodshed on an unprecedented. A useful, important book that reminds us, at the right time, how hard european unity has been, and how much care must. Europes twentieth century is a 1998 book by mark mazower. From the end of the first world war until the end of the wars of succession in former yugoslavia, mazower accomplishes the truly formidable task of compressing pivotal political, social and economic issues into an immensely readable work. He maintains that violence is no more endemic to the balkans than any other part of europe, for example, and that for most of its history the area had. Publishers weekly jan 4, 1999 mazower inside hitlers greece shapes his wellwritten history of europes 20th century as a struggle among liberal democracy, communism and fascism. About the author mark mazower is reader in history at the university of sussex.
From the physical destruction of cities to the moral catastrophe of fascism and nazism, it seemed as though those on the continent had committed a collective suicide. In this brief but significant account, mazower dark continent, 1998 dispels a number of common misconceptions about one of the most misunderstood regions and peoples in the world. Mark mazowers dark continent is a comprehensive, fresh and incisive analysis of the movements and events, which shaped contemporary europe. Mark mazower teaches history at columbia university. In 194041, by fluke circumstance imposed upon fluke circumstance, hitler found himself ruler of. He reminds the reader that many countries under the third reichs. At its most fundamental level, dark continent takes as its.
Europes twentieth century argued that the triumph of democracy in europe was not inevitable but rather the result of chance and political agency on the part of citizens, subjects and leaders. Mazower is at his best, perhaps, when writing of the interwar social crisis and the horrors and paradoxes of wartime as befits the author of two important monographs on greece, between the wars and under nazi. He read classics and philosophy at oxford, studied international affairs at johns hopkins universitys bologna center, and has a doctorate in modern history from oxford 1988. Mazower describes the rise of hitler amid a europe fascinated by nationality and race and tired of democracy and capitalism. Rather, it is a deeply serious yet often witty and consummately professional but never hermetic interpretative account of europe since the first world war which represents an outstanding and one is tempted to say enlightening. In dark continent mark mazower has turned a bright light onto the frequently murky field of european politics. Christians, muslims, and jews, 14301950 by mark mazower book 60 editions published between 2004 and 2017 in 8 languages and held. A skillful navigation of the stormy seas of balkan history. Mazowers thoughtful discussions emphasize a number of important and familiar themes the importance of nazi ideology, the centrality of the holocaust, the polyocratic nature and inefficiency of the nazi state, the deep complicity of the german army in the crimes of the nazis, the fundamental economic. Europes twentieth century, and governing the world.
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