To cover Europe from prehistory to the present is a labour of Hercules, and this book needs all its 700-odd pages of smallish print to do so; but it is a model of concentrated writing and concentrated knowledge. Dr Roberts is particularly strong on the rise of Western colonialism, which led in the late 19th century to a few European nations controlling the major part of the globe, and then more or less brought about the Great War that ended Europe's imperial age. Another area clearly and fairly handled is the Church-state clashes which dominated the internal politics of many countries after the mid-century, and the transition into modern secularism. A pity that the iniquitous Versailles Treaty should be so softpedalled; but the postwar recovery of Europe is traced in clear outline, and the steady increase in the world's wealth - which still, however, profits the "developed" nations much more than it does the Third World.
B.F.