European Way

A good social history of Europe has yet to be written though, given the developments over the last few decades, this seems more urgent than ever before. This volume presents an important step forward in that it brings together eight internationally known social historians from Europe and Israel, each of whom offer an overview of some key themes in European history during the last two centuries. While dealing with the great changes of this period, the authors reveal the commonalities that link European societies together but also important differences at a national level.

“This volume does not merely add to the author’s earlier works on the same topic. It is far more ambitious, as it develops a much more nuanced argument that seeks to push the boundaries of how the social history of Europe might be written…a handbook that provides succinct and well-structured summaries of key areas of European Social history, broadly defined. Each chapter can be read by itself and provides the reader with a competent overview…a very useful and in many ways stimulating book for students and scholars alike.”   ·  Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London

Hartmut Kaelble is Professor of Social History at the Humboldt University, Berlin.