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Postwar

How Europe rebuilt and redefined itself after 1945

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Postwar

By: Tony Judt
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
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Random House presents the audiobook edition of Postwar by Tony Judt, read by Ralph Cosham.

Tracing the story of post-war Europe and its changing role in the world, Judt's magnificent history of the continent of our times investigates the political, social and cultural history of Europe from the wreckage of post-war Europe to the expansion of the EU into the former Soviet empire. Judt's stress is on the continent as a whole, from Greece to Norway, from Portugal to Russia.

This, uniquely, is a hstory that pays due attention to both Western and Eastern Europe, to cultural and social developments as to political and diplomatic events. Throughout Judt shows how politics, society, culture and popular culture influenced each other. A masterly and definitive history of our continent in a crucial period of its history, Europe in our time.

20th Century Europe Modern Political Science Politics & Government Russia Socialism Soviet Union Imperialism Self-Determination Capitalism Interwar Period
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Critic reviews

Truly superb - a magnificent achievement. It is hard to imagine how a better - and more readable - history of the emergence of today's Europe from the ashes of 1945 could ever be written; I can't think of another work on the latter half of the 20th century that comes close to matching it. I learnt an immense amount from it, and had unbounded admiration for the way Tony Judt seemed to feel equally at ease with macro-economic comparisons, the bureaucratic niceties of the European Union, the complexities of developments in different East European countries before and after 1989, and the changing cultural scene across the Continent. All in all, a real masterpiece. (Sir Ian Kershaw)
This is a book which is not just wholeheartedly to be recommended; it ought to be an obligatory part of the school curriculum across the continent. It is a monumental work, which would make an excellent bookend or doorstop. But please read it first.
Tony Judt is splendidly equipped to write the history of Europe since the second world war... One of Postwar's great achievements is to break with the orthodox, almost triumphalist narrative of European history since the war, and to show just how complicated, confused and contingent that story really was... The other really striking thing about Judt's account is that it gives so much time and thought to what Donald Rumsfeld calls 'New Europe'... [Judt] moves fluently and deftly from politics and economics to films and television... Judt's clear-eyed judgment and mastery of detail are at their absolute best... This magnificently rich and readable book
All stars
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The narrator is not good unfortunately. Not bad, but his voice lulls me to sleep. It's a pity really...

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All Europeans old and young should listen to this audiobook. Highly educational and lovely to listen to.

A must read.

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This was a fantastic listen. Comprehensive overview of this entire period. As a younger listener I learned a lot.

Tremendous Overview

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Vast in scope and detail. It behoves Europeans to remember well our troubled past, for it is all to easy to forget. This book offers little comfort, instead it forensically dissects the different currents of shared European postwar experience, and reveals starkly the abyss upon which our civilisation is built. A magnificent work of history.

Monumental

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I can't recommend this book highly enough. it covers all the most important and interesting political, social, economic and intellectual developments of Europe's postwar period. I had a reasonable foundation in the history of the period, but still found every chapter fascinating. It's comfortably the best history book I've read.

The audio performance is also very engaging and the author is very easy to listen to even up to 45 hours.

An astonishing book and performance

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