Homelands
A Personal History of Europe
Published on 2. March 2023
384 pages
978-1-4735-8566-9 (ISBN)
Description
**Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize 2024**
**A Financial Times Best Book of 2023**
'A moving love letter to Europe' Lea Ypi, author of Free
Drawing from the people who lived it, Homelands explores how Europe slowly recovered and rebuilt from World War Two. And then faltered.
Timothy Garton Ash, our greatest writer about Europe, has spent a lifetime studying Europe and this deeply felt book is full of vivid experiences: from his father's memories of D-Day and his own surveillance at the hands of the Stasi to interviewing Albanian guerrillas in the mountains of Kosovo and angry teenagers in the poorest quarters of Paris, as well as advising prime ministers, chancellors and presidents.
Homelands is at once a living, breathing history of a period of unprecedented progress, a clear-eyed account of how so much then went wrong and an urgent call to the citizens of this great old continent to understand and defend what we have collectively achieved.
'The right book for Europe, at the right time' Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
'Tremendously enjoyable ... thoughtful, honest, open, self-deprecating' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
'Readers could hardly wish for a wiser guide ... defiantly hopeful' Financial Times
**A Financial Times Best Book of 2023**
'A moving love letter to Europe' Lea Ypi, author of Free
Drawing from the people who lived it, Homelands explores how Europe slowly recovered and rebuilt from World War Two. And then faltered.
Timothy Garton Ash, our greatest writer about Europe, has spent a lifetime studying Europe and this deeply felt book is full of vivid experiences: from his father's memories of D-Day and his own surveillance at the hands of the Stasi to interviewing Albanian guerrillas in the mountains of Kosovo and angry teenagers in the poorest quarters of Paris, as well as advising prime ministers, chancellors and presidents.
Homelands is at once a living, breathing history of a period of unprecedented progress, a clear-eyed account of how so much then went wrong and an urgent call to the citizens of this great old continent to understand and defend what we have collectively achieved.
'The right book for Europe, at the right time' Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
'Tremendously enjoyable ... thoughtful, honest, open, self-deprecating' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
'Readers could hardly wish for a wiser guide ... defiantly hopeful' Financial Times
Reviews / Votes
A panoramic contemporary history of Europe, in which sharp political analysis is enlivened with personal memoir - drawn from decades of distinguished work as a journalist and academic * FT Summer Book of 2023 * Readers could hardly wish for a wiser guide. Over 40 years, Garton Ash has both watched from the stands and played on the pitch in the arena of European change * Financial Times * Outstanding ... Homelands is an elegantly written piece of contemporary history by one of Britain's leading public intellectuals * Spectator * At once accessible, engaging and erudite, Homelands is an extraordinary accomplishment, much like the author's life; it is a heartfelt call to arms * Times Literary Supplement * Personal memories matter in Europe, where the remembrance of recent horrors has shaped modern politics ... Homelands is a trip down memory lane on a continental scale ... insightful [and] downright chilling, too * Economist * We know there are Germans, Italians, Spaniards and Poles - but are there Europeans? Yes, at least one: Timothy Garton Ash. Homelands is the brilliant, captivating story of how he became one. * Mark Lilla, author of The Once and Future Liberal * This book, from a man who had a front-row seat to much of the history he describes, draws on his experiences and those of his friends to bring events to vivid life * M. E. Sarotte, author of Not One Inch * Garton Ash deftly combines scholarship, journalistic experience, and personal observations and stories in Homelands ... delightful and thought-provoking * Robert B. Zoellick, author of America in the World * Garton Ash has carved out a unique niche as a 'historian of the present.' Homelands combines his eye-witness account of Europe's evolution with his keen historical insight to offer an innovative and compelling book * Charles A. Kupchan, author of Isolationism * Insightful * Irish Independent *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Random House (Digital)
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
File size
2,92 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4735-8566-9 (9781473585669)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2024
Vintage
€16.50
Available immediately
Person
Timothy Garton Ash was 17 when Britain joined the European Community and 64 when Britain left it. In the intervening years he has lived and breathed European politics, witnessing some of the most dramatic scenes in its history, interviewing many of its key players and analysing how life has evolved for ordinary Europeans across the breadth of the continent.
He is Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford and a columunist for the Guardian. He has won many prizes and plaudits for his journalism and books, including The File, his riveting autobiographical account of investigating the contents of his Stasi file after the fall of East Germany.
He is Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford and a columunist for the Guardian. He has won many prizes and plaudits for his journalism and books, including The File, his riveting autobiographical account of investigating the contents of his Stasi file after the fall of East Germany.
