| Description |
xvii, 830 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
'The past is a foreign country' has become a truism, yet we often forget that the past is different from the present in many unfamiliar ways, and historical memory is extraordinarily imperfect. We habitually think of the European past as the history of countries which exist today - France, Germany, Britain, Russia and so on - but often this actually obstructs our view of the past, and blunts our sensitivity to the ever-changing political landscape. Europe's history is littered with kingdoms, duchies, empires and republics which have now disappeared but which were once fixtures on the map of their age - 'the Empire of Aragon' which once dominated the western Mediterranean; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for a time the largest country in Europe; the successive kingdoms (and one duchy) of Burgundy, much of whose history is now half-remembered - or half-forgotten - at best. This book shows the reader how to peer through the cracks of mainstream history writing and listen to the echoes of lost realms across the centuries. How many British people know that Glasgow was founded by the Welsh in a period when neither England nor Scotland existed? How many of us will remember the former Soviet Union in a few generations' time? Will our own United Kingdom become a distant memory too? As in his earlier celebrated books Europe: a history and The Isles, Norman Davies aims to subvert our established view of what seems familiar, and urges us to look and think again. This stimulating surprising book, full of unexpected stories, observations and connections, gives us a fresh and original perspective on the history of Europe. -- Product Description. |
| Contents |
Tolosa : Soujourn of the Visigoths (AD 418-507) -- Alt Clud : Kingdom of the Rock (Fifth to Twelfth Centuries) -- Burgundia : Five, Six, or Seven Kingdoms (c. 411-1795) -- Aragon : A Mediterranean Empire (1137-1714) -- Litva : A Grandy Duchy with Kings (1253-1795) -- Byzantion : The Star-lit Golden Bough (330-1453) -- Borussia : Watery Land of the Prusai (1230-1945) -- Sabaudia : The House that Humbert Built (1033-1946) -- Galicia : Kingdom of the Naked and Starving (1773-1918) -- Etruria : French Snake in the Tuscan Grass (1901-1814) -- Rosenau : The Loved and Unwanted Legacy (1826-1918) -- Tsernagora : Kingdom of the Black Mountain (1910-1918) -- Rusyn : The Republic of One Day (15 March 1939) -- Éire : The Unconscionable Tempo of the Crownʹs Retreat since 1916 -- CCCP : The Ultimate Vanishing Act (1924-1991) -- How States Die. |
| Subject |
Europe -- History.
|
|
Europe. |
|
History. |
|
Europe -- Politics and government.
|
|
Politics and government. |
| ISBN |
9781846143380 hardback |
|
1846143381 hardback |
|
