europe

I felt I needed to respond to the other reviewer, who may or may not be a pre-schooler. This was our textbook for my 20th century European History class (college, not preschool) and I can safely say that this is the best textbook I have ever owned. It is certainly not a novel, it is filled with facts as any textbook must be. But its softcover is an indicator of its content. Paxton is able to weave stories and ideas together, and produce an excellent history of a fascinating century. It is not light reading by any means, and is not intended to be so, but it provides an excellent source of background information to the most horrific and terrible century in Europe's history.

Robert O. Paxton has managed, with this book, to turn one of the most dynamic and exciting periods of European history into a turgid, unreadable mess. At every turn, events are fully detailed, but robbed of even the slightest spark of life, as flat and uninteresting as a dessicated leaf.

Though EUROPE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY could be used as reference work, with the scholar dipping in to grab facts as needed, Paxton's work is an utter failure as a cover-to-cover read, thanks to his seeming inability to write in a compelling fashion. Couple the boredom factor with the book's outrageous, textbook-typical price point, and there's little here to recommend to the prospective buyer.

As a survey and learning guide this is a wonderful book. It gives an accurate depiction of the turbulence of Europe throughout the 20th century - with revolutions and revelations taking center stage. As with all history books at some points the reading is a little dry,,,because history can become a little dry at times. But then someone takes up an issue and the author rolls with it. This is an excellent guide for the history minded individual without focusing too much on one event.