From Publishers Weekly

The pre-eminent scholar of Polish history, Davies (God's Playground and Heart of Europe) expands his focus to all of Europe. While the book is bulky, its size is hardly adequate to a complete history of the continent from pre-history to the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In addition, as one might expect, Davies has taken great pains to treat countries other than England, France and Germany as legitimate parts of Europe?not just as the thresholds over which barbarians crossed. ("For some reason it has been the fashion among some historians to minimize the impact of the Magyars," Davies writes when discussing what would become central Europe. "All this means is that the Magyars did not reach Cambridge.") The book works because his subject is not the constituent countries but the continent as a whole. Thus, while Elizabeth I gets one brief mention in passing, Aristide Briand, the French foreign minister who tried to effect a Franco-German reconciliation until the Nazis won power, gets several paragraphs. Aside from defining what Europe is and giving all countries their due, Davies also tries to show the joys of an inclusive reading of historical subjects (he disparages excessive specialization and writes admiringly of the Annales school). A master of broad-brushstroke synthesis, Davies navigates through the larger historical currents with the detail necessary to a well-written engaging narrative.

Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

诺曼·戴维斯1939年生于英格兰。曾获波兰克拉科夫大学博士学位，原伦敦大学东欧斯拉夫学院教授，在伦敦大学执教多年，主要研究方向为中欧与东欧史。现任午津大学沃尔夫森学院研究员、教授。

主要著作：

《起义在1944年：华沙之战》(Rising，44：The Battle for Warsaw)，被《纽约时报》评为2004年度100本最畅销书之一。

《上帝的操场：波兰史》(God's Playgrotmd：A History of Poland)

《欧洲的心脏：与波兰当代有关的历史》(Heart of Europe：The Past in Poland's Present)

《不列颠群岛：一部历史》(7hc Isles：A History)

《微观世界：一个中欧城市的肖像》(Microcosm: Portrait of a Central Euronean City)