Kershaw’s single-volume survey of the 1914 to 1949 period deserves classic statusHistorians like to be revisionists but it is tough to see how anyone could conceive a revisionist overview of the first half of the 20th century. Causes may be debated,consequences disputed, but from the perspective of the moment decade of the next century, or the years 1914-1949 in European history appear overwhelmingly as they did at the time: a period of unimaginable destruction and cruelty,of war and genocide, degradation and famine. Thus Ian Kershaw remarks at the start of his superb account: “The continent, or which for nearly one hundred years after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 had prided itself on being the apogee of civilisation,fell between 1914 and 1945 into the pit of barbarism.” Related: A life in writing: Ian Kershaw Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com