A History of Europe

xii, 628 pp. Maps throughout text. "A good narrative historian must know what to leave out, and few are as discriminating as Roberts. In a relatively short span he offers, in a measured, nicely resonant prose, a survey of the succession of cultures from which modern Europe has emerged, stressing the wider implications and influences of events over local history, and concentrating on the evolution of thought and society rather than on a recitation of political and military strategies. What emerges is a coherent portrait of the forces that have shaped the continent and given it a distinctive identity, as well as the dominant ideas of mass democracies and the unique value of the individual. A lucid, convincing introductory guide, certainly the best such summation currently available." -- Kirkus Reviews