To Hell and Back: Europe 1914- 1949 by Ian Kershaw (594 pages)
"History resists an ending as surely as nature abhors a vacuum; the narrative of our days is a run- on sentence, every full stop a comma in embryo."
-Mark Slouka, Essays From the Nick of Time
Starting with "The Golden Age" or "Gilded Age" before the first world war, Ian Kershaw begins a telling of 35 years of European history. Social change and economic prosperity were in a hey day, worries carefree. Lingering in the background - or rather, simmering- were the presence of early socialism and the beginnings of communism.
A British historian, Kershaw focuses on the English role in the 35 year time period, which I liked, having read mostly US history of these years. Some of that was understandable, however to find no mention of Hiroshima or Nagasaki was astounding. Especially when the last 100 pages are devoted to the US/ Soviet struggle in the beginnings of the cold war, with little to no mention of the British.
A tremendous undertaking and a well done job, To Hell and Back is the first of a two part series of modern day Europe.