The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 (The Penguin History of Europe)

Many histories get described as "magisterial," this one really is. Prof. Evans is masterful in describing how Europe developed over the 19th century from a peasant-based society ruled by a narrow aristocracy to a modern industrialized society dominated by its middle and working classes. His recounting includes political, social, ideological and military history. I only have one complaint. I purchased the audio CD version for listening in the car (the book's length will get you through several thousand miles of commuting). With every mention of a new person in the narrative, the narrator stops and gives the person's years of birth and death. This is done for every single person mentioned, no matter how insignificant the individual. This practice of interrupting the audio narrative to give birth and death years for every person mentioned seriously degrades the flow of the narrative and reduces the enjoyment of listening to the audio reading. I cannot believe that the audio producers allowed this practice to mar an otherwise flawless audio production.

I purchased this book on the basis of newspaper reviews and the author's considerable reputation as an historian. I expected a readable history of the main currents in politics, society and the economy in Europe over the century covered. The book does not disappoint. But the author over reaches by also trying to cover the major developments in art, music, literature and the frontiers of science. That treatment is too often superficial and not related to the book's main focus. His treatment often comes off as no more than name dropping. Do we need to know that the French Symbolists and Impressionist paintings may have influenced the music of Debussy and Ravel? To show the spread of science, on pages 497 to 498 Evans rattles off a list of scientists and their achievements, but without drawing connections to their work or the impact on the further advancement of science. For example, the significance of the work of the Curries, Rontgen and Rutherford (mentioned) and Max Planck (not mentioned) ushered in the exploration of the atom, which would dominate the physical sciences in the 20th century. The book is organized into sections and subsections in which Evans explores various themes. Information and facts can come from all directions to prove a generalization. That can sometimes be interesting, but also disconcerting. In discussing the changing concept of modern time Evans brings in racing tea clippers, the sinking of the Titanic, the depiction of time and motion in early 20th century paintings, experiments in the French cinema and Einstein's theory of special relativity (pages 393-394). The facts don't always integrate and the generalizations don't entirely convince. The narration is aided by 20 special maps and a lovely midsection of glossy color reproductions of art related to historical events. There is a 10 page guide to further reading. The book is directed at the general reader, so there are no scholarly notes. Even with its shortcomings and excesses, that only take up only a small part of the book, Evans has written a fascinating, readable narrative history of the European century before it plunged into world war.

This book is not a new synthesis by any means, in fact there aren't even any source notes on the body of the text, but it is a very solid and well written survey of the political, cultural and social history of Europe from the Congress of Vienna to the outbreak of WW1. If all you are interested in is political history this will not be for you, as only about 1/3 of the book is pure political history. Evans gives equal time to the lives of the "normal people" and the events that had deep influence on them. If you are familiar with Evans' previous works on European history than you know that the book will be readable despite its considerable length.

I have long been a fan of Richard Evans - an absolute master of World War II and anything he touches. Magnificent scholarship combined with fascinating detail in the clearest, narrative prose. Not to be missed!!

This is a good solid book. It takes a multidisciplinary perspective to trace the arc of European politics from the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I. The book focuses on important areas, such as the evolution of government structure, economic change (among the most important of which was the role of the peasantry), the growth of information availability (such as newspapers), the working out (or not) of multiethnic countries (such as Austria-Hungary). Some states resisted change more aggressively than others (such as Russia).The story begins with the states meeting after the end of the Napoleonic era, to try to create a European system that would be stable and that would be conservative. On the political side, the author traces the time from 1815 to the latter 1840s, when cries for greater freedom and more power to citizens (and outbreaks of efforts to overturn governments (e.g., in France) emerged. There was much fear among elites, but--for the most part--a degree of tranquility returned.Change can be manifest by the arts. Thus, his treatment of music and other arts is nicely related to the political. It provides another dimension to the work.This is a fine work that covers a lot of territory without getting t5oo far into the weeds.

Great book. Excellent explanation of the evolution of the rise of the great powers in Europe up to the eve of WWI. Of particular note was the quest for greater representation by middle and lower classes in the political process, the rise of nationalism, and the growing recognition of the role of the state in promoting the public good.

Um dos melhores livros de história que alguma vez li. Conjuga os movimentos abstractos da geopolítica para depois entrar nas profundezas da vida privada em toda a sua complexidade, alternando de forma vertiginosa o geral e o particular. É a história dos ilustres deste longo século, mas também a dos humildes, dos desconhecidos.Sem perder nunca o rigor, estende sobre a secura dos factos a história das ideias, produzindo uma intuição rica do espírito de uma época.

Obra notável como era de se esperar de um renomado historiador

The Penguin history of Europe has been almost a decade in the making and it is now only one volume short of being completed. The instalments so far go from the excellent - Tim Blanning's The Pursuit of Glory, to the odd, Mark Greengrass Christendom Destroyed, a strange book which tells the history of an essential period (the Renaissance and Reformation) under a catholic point of view, calling said period as an "interruption" in the story of Christianity.The Pursuit of Power deals with the XIX century, roughly from the fall of Napoleon to the First War World. Ad it is a wonderful book.Richard Evans has stablished as one of the leading historians of the XXI century, and not only that, but has made himself into a bestseller. His History of the Third Reich, at over 2000 pages in three tomes, is currently the reference work in the Germany of the pre-days and the Second War World. And his last work is the biography of another leading (and very popular) historian, the one and only, and sadly missed, Eric Hobsbawn.The Pursuit of Glory is divided, very cleverly, in several parts and starting with a personal anecdote develops into the story of a period. The history of the century of the revolutions, Marx, George Eliot and the fierce development of capitalism seldom has had a better chronicler.The only "but", a humble and tiny one, a moot in a magnificant book, should be that, as in other of his books, Mr Evans lets the prose to languid somehow. The reader misses here and there a zing, an oomph, something to spice up the very long text. This is first caliber history, but it does not need to be getting close to boring-ish at some points.A book to enjoy, to re-read and to complete an uneven history of the continent.

Se ciò che chiamiamo ‘storia’ è un flusso di eventi mutevole, a volte lento, a volte veloce, sempre inarrestabile e imprevedibile da chi la vive, a volte, analizzando saggi come questo, ci rendiamo conto di come ciò che chiamiamo ‘civiltà occidentale’ trovi in questo turbolento secolo lo spazio ove gettare le fondamenta. Ancora altro dovrò succedere perché il vecchio ordine lasci definitivamente posto al nuovo, ma è ora che si giocano gli ultimi momenti delle partite decisive, qui narrati con maestria, scioltezza

A brilliant new insight