The Penguin History of Europe (J. M. Roberts, 1996)

I like to have a fiction and a non-fiction book on the go at any one time. If I feel like losing myself in a thriller or a mystery etc. then I can pick up the fiction, and if I'm in the mood to expand my mind and learn something new about the world I'll pick up the non-fiction (to say nothing of the 3 or 4 magazines I read a month/week). This system means that it can often take quite a while to finish the non-fiction... if the novel I'm reading is 'unputdownable' then the non-fiction can get neglected, and the same happens if I'm feeling tired or in no mood to take in any new information, or concentrate on factual narrative. 

I began J. M. Robert's The Penguin History of Europe in June this year, and last week I finally finished it! I'm fascinated by Europe, it's history and it's current incarnation(s), and I found this superb one-volume, paperback in Waterstones last year. 

My last few non-fiction reads were biographies of Churchill and Stalin, along with volumes on the punic and Boer wars. As I get older I'm more and more fascinated by history and the things it can teach us. I read the last four books knowing little of the subjects before embarking on the journey through their lives and events, and I came out wanting to know more about subjects touched upon within these narratives. After reading about the Boer war I wanted to know more about Africa and Britain's Empire. After Stalin's biography I moved on to Churchill's, after the latter was featured as a supporting character in the former's life. And after reading of Churchill's life I wanted to know more about English history - that will have to wait for the future. 

The History of Europe was until recent times a history of the world - Europe's empires spread across the planet, and much of today's civilisation was created in Europe. I enjoyed Roberts' history and found it an easy, enthralling read - although I have to say I preferred it as it went along. That's no criticism of the writing, more of the time spans covered - earlier history has less documentation and as such was written about in broad sweeps. Later, from 1800 onwards, the world described became more recognisable to me and I found it easier to take in the information presented to me.

I now have a better understanding of the continent's history as a whole, and how it fits in with the histories of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia, and I'm confident in my overview of the last few centuries. I do, however, want to know more! As I read the History of Europe, mention of the Boer War and Carthage was made in a matter of lines, whereas I've read a book on each. Although I was enthralled by the story of a continent across hundreds of years, it's sometimes more gratifying to read in more depth about individual events, or individual lives, such as Churchill's or Stalin's. Through one person's biography you can learn much around the subject. I'll certainly be using The Penguin History of Europe as a reference as I read more about the history of the world.