The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present

Felix Gilbert gives, I believe, an excellent account of the major historical events that affected Europe from toward the end of the 19th century to the present (which at the time of writing was the 1970s). What was very helpful was the sensible groupings of chapters which gives at a quick glance the major content of the book (sure this is not novel but unfortunately some history books are not as clear in their presentation) and the fact that events were traced within the major European powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire). This to and fro between the events in the major powers and the general European situation helps the reader see the big picture but then gives sufficient detail at the national level to see what the situation in the respective countries was. All history will undoubtedly have some elements of bias but in this work Gilbert manages to give a fair presentation of the facts. I am not a historian so I cannot attest to this, but he seems to make some very commonsensical claims. Something else which I appreciated about this book was the author's reference to major works of fiction that were based on the period in question. The only unfortunate thing about this is that these references are made in-text and not included in the suggestions for further reading. The bibliography is also very helpful. Finally, I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to gain an understanding of the period from 1890 to the 1970s. The work is highly accessible but not `simplified' for general consumption as many other books are.