Europe Reborn A History, 1914-2000

After the catastrophe of dictatorship and World War, the idea of liberal democracy, of property rights, and of Europe in the broader international order all needed to be remade. In "Europe Reborn," Harold James offers a sweeping survey of twentieth-century Europe, from crisis to convergence, and the recreation of an international society, culture and economy. Drawing on and explicating the variety of ways historians have interpreted and analyzed these processes, he investigates the links and commonalities between different parts of the European experience, and examines what really underlies Mikhail Gorbachev's concept of a "common European house."

In the early twentieth century brutal nation-states such as Mussolini’s Italy, Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany came to the fore and the twin evils of dictatorship and war ensured the rapid destruction of liberal democracy, market economics and the international order. In contrast, the latter half was concerned with re-thinking and re-shaping these core values which still guide political life after the millennium. Harold James analyses the failures and achievements of the twentieth century. The demands of the post-war period, namely the place of Europe in a wider international order are also examined. Features include: Boxed Case Studies Maps Plates Figures Short Biographies Chronologies Statistical Appendix James lucidly argues that European societies today are dominated by the trend to converge around the principles of democracy, market economics and international integration. He shows that the stability brought by the gradual unwinding of the nation-state and the end of left-right politics have created a Europe ‘reborn’.

1. The First World War. 2. Europe and the World of the Depression. 3. Peace and War: The Failure of the International Order. 4. The Second World War. 5. The Reconstruction of Europe, Western Style. 6. Yalta and Communism: The Reconstruction of Europe, Eastern Style. 7. A Golden Age. 8. The Limits to Growthmanship.9. Right Step. 10. Malta and Communism: 1989 and the Restoration of Europe. 11. The Return to Europe: The New Politics and the End of the Cold War.

Harold James is Professor of History at Princeton University. He is the author of The End of Globalization; Lessons from the Great Depression and The German Slump; Politics and Economics 1924-1936.