SALE ON NOW! PROMOTIONS

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

Savage Continent

Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

Keith Lowe

$36.99

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English
Penguin
01 August 2013
In Savage Continent, Keith Lowe describes a continent still racked by violence, where large sections of the population had yet to accept that the war was over. Individuals, communities and sometimes whole nations sought vengeance for the wrongs that had been done to them during the war. Germans and collaborators everywhere were rounded up, tormented and summarily executed. Concentration camps were reopened and filled with new victims who were tortured and starved. Violent anti-Semitism was reborn, sparking murders and new pogroms across Europe. Massacres were an integral part of the chaos and in some places - particularly Greece, Yugoslavia and Poland, as well as parts of Italy and France - they led to brutal civil wars. In some of the greatest acts of ethnic cleansing the world has ever seen, tens of millions were expelled from their ancestral homelands, often with the implicit blessing of the Allied authorities. Savage Continent is the story of post WWII Europe, in all its ugly detail, from the end of the war right up until the establishment of an uneasy stability across Europe towards the end of the 1940s. Based principally on primary sources from a dozen countries, Savage Continent is a frightening and thrilling chronicle of a world gone mad, the standard history of post WWII Europe for years to come.
By:  
Imprint:   Penguin
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 130mm,  Spine: 32mm
Weight:   395g
ISBN:   9780141034515
ISBN 10:   0141034513
Pages:   480
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Keith Lowe is widely recognized as an authority on the Second World War, and has often spoken on TV and radio, both in Britain and the United States. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg, 1943 (Penguin). He lives in north London with his wife and two children.

Reviews for Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

Graphic and chilling. This excellent book paints a little-known and frightening picture of a continent in the embrace of lawlessness and chaos -- Ian Kershaw Extraordinary, disturbing and powerful ... it is to Lowe's great credit that he resists the temptation to sit in moral judgment ... it is time we acknowledged the hidden realities of perhaps the darkest chapter in all human history * Daily Mail * Impressive and heart-rendering study...Lowe marshals all the elements of the story with cool even-handedness, especially where statistics are concerned, and explains how subsequent generations have manipulated the historical record to suit their own purposes, either to diminish their guilt or demonise others. -- Christopher Silvester * Daily Express * An excellent account...Lowe's vivid descriptions of Europeans scrambling for scraps of food, rampant theft and 'destruction of morals' are a timely reminder that a certain humility is in order when we look at less fortunate continents today. -- Brendan Simms * The Independent * A major new historical talent has arrived... a brilliantly organised and scrupulously objective survey of a continent on the floor * BBC History Magazine * Savage Continent is a powerful and disturbing book, painstakingly researched and written with both authority and an impressive historical sweep -- James Holland Extraordinary...exceptional...reveals a continent where moral values were often missing and basically lawlessness prevailed for several years -- Trevor James * The Historian * Moving, measured and provocative -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * Grimly absorbing, conveys the pity of war and its sorry aftermath with integrity and proper sympathy -- Ian Thomson * Sunday Telegraph *


  • Winner of Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2013.
  • Winner of PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2013
  • Winner of PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2013.

See Also