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Short History of Europe
From Charlemagne to the Treaty of Lisbon

Gordon Kerr

Publication: February 2009
Extent: 160 pp
Format: Crown Octavo (186 x 124mm)
Price: 9.99
ISBN: 9781842433300
EAN: 9781842433300
13 Digit ISBN: 978-1-84243-330-0
Binding: hardback
Market: history
Rights: World
BIC Code:

  • An accessible and readable history of the people, ideas, institutions and events that have shaped Europe during the last 1200 years.
  • A fascinating beginner’s guide to the history of Europe.
  • All the key events covered, from the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 to the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007.
  • Europe will be a hot topic in 2009 – the member-states of the European Union have promised a ratified Treaty of Lisbon before the middle of the year.

'Europe was created by history.'
Margaret Thatcher

What is Europe? Firstly, of course, it is a continent made up of countless disparate peoples, races and nations, and governed by different ideas, philosophies, religions and attitudes. Nonetheless, it has a common thread of history running through it, stitching the lands and peoples of its past and present together into one fabric. This narrative is welded together by the continent's great institutions, such as the Church of Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, the European Union, individual monarchies, trade organisations and social movements. At times they have prevented anarchy from destroying the achievements of the many great men and women the continent has produced. At other times, of course, it is these very institutions that have been at the heart of the war and strife that have threatened to reduce Europe to ruin on numerous occasions.

Europe, however, is also an idea. From almost the beginning of time, men have harboured aspirations to make this vast territory one. The Romans came close and a few centuries later, the foundations for a great European state were laid with the creation of the Holy Roman Empire - an empire different to any other in that it enjoyed the approval of God, through the Church in Rome. Napoleon overreached himself in attempting to create a European-wide Empire - as did Adolf Hitler. Now, however, Europe is as close as it ever has been to being one entity. The European Union is an ever-expanding club of which everyone in Europe wants to be a member, although, as the recent rejection of the European Constitution by the French and the Dutch, demonstrates, we Europeans still cling to our national independence.


Gordon Kerr is a writer and editor who has worked in bookselling, publishing, journalism and the wine trade. He is the author of Timeline of Britain, Timeline; History of the World and Timeline; Kings & Queens of Europe. His book Great British Losers is published by Old Street in autumn 2008 and Dead Famous will be published by Oneworld in 2009.

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on 0161 445 6635 or email chris-burrows@o2.co.uk

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