Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945: Amazon.fr: Tony Judt: Livres anglais et �trangers

Amazon.com

World War II may have ended in 1945, but according to historian Tony Judt, the conflict's epilogue lasted for nearly the rest of the century. Calling 1945-1989 "an interim age," Judt examines what happened on each side of the Iron Curtain, with the West nervously inching forward while the East endured the "peace of the prison yard" until the fall of Communism in 1989 signaled their chance to progress. Though he proposes no grand, overarching theory of the postwar period, Judt's massive work covers the broad strokes as well as the fine details of the years 1945 to 2005. No one book (even at nearly a thousand pages) could fully encompass this complex period, but Postwar comes close, and is impressive for its scope, synthesis, clarity, and narrative cohesion.

Judt treats the entire continent as a whole, providing equal coverage of social changes, economic forces, and cultural shifts in western and eastern Europe. He offers a county-by-county analysis of how each Eastern nation shed Communism and traces the rise of the European Union, looking at what it represents both economically and ideologically. Along with the dealings between European nations, he also covers Europe's conflicted relationship with the United States, which learned much different lessons from World War II than did Europe. In particular, he studies the success of the Marshall Plan and the way the West both appreciated and resented the help, for acceptance of it reminded them of their diminished place in the world. No impartial observer, Judt offers his judgments and opinions throughout the book in an attempt to instruct as well as inform. If a moral lesson is to come from World War II, Judt writes, "then it will have to be taught afresh with each passing generation. 'European Union' may be an answer to history, but it can never be a substitute." This book would be an excellent place to start that lesson. --Shawn Carkonen --Ce texte fait r�f�rence � une �dition �puis�e ou non disponible de ce titre.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This is the best history we have of Europe in the postwar period and not likely to be surpassed for many years. Judt, director of New York University's Remarque Institute, is an academic historian of repute and, more recently, a keen observer of European affairs whose powerfully written articles have appeared in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books and elsewhere. Here he combines deep knowledge with a sharply honed style and an eye for the expressive detail. Postwar is a hefty volume, and there are places where the details might overwhelm some readers. But the reward is always there: after pages on cabinet shuffles in some small country, or endless diplomatic negotiations concerning the fate of Germany or moves toward the European Union, the reader is snapped back to attention by insightful analysis and excellent writing. Judt shows that the dire human and economic costs of WWII shadowed Europe for a very long time afterward. Europeans and Americans recall the economic miracle, but it didn't really transform people's lives until the late 1950s, when a new, more individualized, consumer-oriented society began to appear in the West. But Postwar is not just a history of Western Europe. One of its great virtues is that it fully integrates the history of Eastern and Western Europe, and covers the small countries as well as the large and powerful ones. Judt is judicious, even a bit uncritical, in his appraisal of American involvement in Europe in the early postwar years, and he's scathing about Western intellectuals' accommodation to communism. His book focuses on cultural and intellectual life rather than the social experiences of factory workers or peasants, but it would probably be impossible to encompass all of it in one volume. Overall, this is history writing at its very best.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait r�f�rence � une �dition �puis�e ou non disponible de ce titre.

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Changer de point de vue 26 octobre 2010

Par Serge Goffard

Format:Broch�

Tony Judt, récemment disparu, est un des meilleurs connaisseurs de l'histoire politique et culturelle de l'Europe contemporaine. Pour un lecteur fran�ais, ce livre est indispensable. L'auteur, anglais et américain, regarde l'Europe avec un tout autre �il que le monde académique européen. Il se montre capable de mettre en perspective les histoires des différents pays européens, de montrer les héritages et la banalité des idéologies qui ont passionné les Européens. Bien des célébrités nationales rapetissent sous les yeux des lecteurs. Un des grands intér�ts de ce livre est de se placer dans une perspective non individualiste, véritablement libérale (au sens de Tocqueville), privilégiant le modèle de la démocratie sociale pour analyser l'histoire récente. Une grande absente, toutefois, l'analyse des actions des USA sur l'Europe.

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L'Europe d'après-guerre 14 novembre 2010

Par Michel Andrieu

C'est un livre que je recommande à tous ceux et celles qui s'intéressent à l'histoire de l'Europe depuis 1945 dans son ensemble, et veulent mieux comprendre l'Europe d'aujourd'hui. Avec une érudition remarquable mais contr�lée, l'auteur brosse un remarquable tableau de l'Europe d'après guerre. C'est un véritable tour de force, tant par sa couverture géographique à la fois vaste et équilibrée ' il donne autant de place à l'Europe de l'est qu'à l'Europe de l'ouest ' que par sa riche couverture thématique ' il couvre aussi bien les aspect géopolitiques, politiques, économiques et sociaux que les aspects culturels et le cheminement - parfois très tortueux - des idéologies dominantes. Les liens qu'il établit entre les évènements qui se sont déroulés dans différents pays donnent un éclairage très révélateur ' et parfois très cru - sur l'évolution de la société européenne dans son ensemble. Ce livre est aussi remarquablement écrit. A part de rares longueurs, on ne s'ennuie jamais. Une seule petite critique : quelques tableaux et graphiques auraient été fort utiles pour faciliter la présentation des abondantes et très pertinentes données statistiques qui enrichissent la narration.

Easy to read, highly informative 14 mars 2009

Par Gerard W. Russo

This is a well researched and written history of the important factors which have lead to the current status of Europe today. It is an immense help in understanding what has transpired during this period.