The struggle for Europe : the turbulent history of a divided continent 1945-2002

Select an Action

Title:

The struggle for Europe : the turbulent history of a divided continent 1945-2002

Author:

Hitchcock, William I.

ISBN:

9780385497985

Personal Author:

Hitchcock, William I.

Publication Information:

New York : Doubleday, 2003.

Physical Description:

viii, 513 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., map, ports. ; 25 cm.

Contents:

Pt. 1. Aftermath -- 1. German Midnight: The Division of Europe, 1945 -- 2. Building Jerusalem: The Labour Government in Britain, 1945-1951 -- 3. Democracy Embattled: France, Italy, and West Germany, 1944-1949 -- 4. Behind the Iron Curtain: Communism in Power, 1945-1953 -- Pt. 2. Boom -- 5. The Miraculous Fifties -- 6. Winds of Change: The End of the European Empires -- 7. Hope Betrayed: The Khrushchev Years, 1953-1964 -- 8. The Gaullist Temptation: Western Europe in the 1960s -- Pt. 3. Rebels -- 9. Europe and Its Discontents: 1968 and After -- 10. Southern Renaissance: The Transition to Democracy in Spain, Portugal, and Greece -- 11. Cracks in the Wall: Eastern Europe, 1968-1981 -- 12. Rule, Britannia: The Thatcher Era -- Pt. 4. Unity? -- 13. The European Revolutions, 1989-1991 -- 14. The Bones of Bosnia -- 15. Who Is European? Race, Immigration, and the Politics of Division -- 16. The Elusive European Union.

Abstract:

"William Hitchcock's sweeping new survey fills a critical gap in the writing on postwar Europe. The Struggle for Europe starts by assessing the impact of World War II on European politics and society and the foundations of Europe's extraordinary economic recovery. It explores the roles of the United States and the Soviet Union in shaping the postwar settlement and shows how Europeans often resisted and defied superpower dictates. In examining Cold War politics between 1945 and 1989, Hitchcock reveals the serious challenges mounted to the super-powers by such European leaders as Charles de Gaulle, Willy Brandt, and Margaret Thatcher. The book examines the fall of Communism as an ideology and lays out the long-term factors that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Concluding chapters show that Europe has made great strides in fulfilling the promise of economic and political union but has yet to overcome the troubling legacy of racial, ethnic, and national antagonism."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Reconstruction (1939-1951) -- Europe.

Communism -- Europe.

Geographic Term:

Europe -- History -- 1945-

Europe -- Economic conditions -- 1945-

Electronic Access:

Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy037/2002025710.html
Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/random045/2002025710.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015754936	940.55 H674S 2003	1	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

From the ashes of World War II to the advent of the Euro, the definitive history of the postwar rebirth of Europe by one of our finest young historians. After a century of war, genocide, and ideological rivalry, Europe has at last emerged as a continent striving for stability, tolerance, democracy and prosperity. Yet the making of today's Europe has not been easy. Its success was achieved only after a half-century of struggle between capitalism and Communism, between the forces of integration and the forces of nationalism, between the ideals of fairness and justice and a legacy of racism and inequality. In fact, as the recent rise of far-right extremism demonstrates, this contest is not over. William Hitchcock's sweeping new survey fills a critical gap in the writing on postwar Europe.The Struggle for Europestarts by assessing the impact of World War II on European politics and society and the foundations of Europe's extraordinary economic recovery. It explores the role of the United States and the Soviet Union in shaping the postwar settlement and shows how Europeans often resisted and defied superpower dictates. In examining Cold War politics between 1945 and 1989, Hitchcock reveals the serious challenges mounted to the superpowers by such European leaders as Charles de Gaulle, Willy Brandt, and Margaret Thatcher. The book examines the collapse of Communism as an ideology and lays out the long-term factors that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Concluding chapters show that Europe has made great strides in fulfilling the promise of economic and political union but has yet to overcome the troubling legacy of racial, ethnic, and national antagonism. Europe stands on the threshold of enormous political and economic change that will profoundly shape world affairs. Now more than ever there is a need to review the continent's postwar history.The Struggle For Europesplendidly fulfills that need.