Europe: Dream-Adventure-Reality (Documentary Reference Collections) - Hardcover

"This handsome volume richly illustrated with pertinent art reproductions and historical photos, many in color, looks almost like a coffee-table book. Some of its contents resemble official histories of companies proud of their achievements. Despite these superificial impressions, this is a collection of scholarly essays, many equipped with multilingual bibliographies, mostly by well-known European personalities who have themselves played a leading role in building modern Western Europe. Although there is some stocktaking, this is not a critical history. The emphasis is on the positive and the authors are obviously proud of their achievements, but they avoid exaggeration of self-congradulation. The introductory historical essays, stretching from the Roman days to 1945, are masterful pieces of conciseness and clarity. The essays that follow, probably the most interesting to the specialist, discuss the difficult period of the late 1940s and 1950s when the European Community was being forged and success was not assured. The last two parts portray the realities--political, economical, and social--of integrated Europe, its relations with the outside world, and the outlook for the future. Biographical data and a chronology of the European integration process. Recommended for all college and public libraries."-Choice ?This handsome volume richly illustrated with pertinent art reproductions and historical photos, many in color, looks almost like a coffee-table book. Some of its contents resemble official histories of companies proud of their achievements. Despite these superificial impressions, this is a collection of scholarly essays, many equipped with multilingual bibliographies, mostly by well-known European personalities who have themselves played a leading role in building modern Western Europe. Although there is some stocktaking, this is not a critical history. The emphasis is on the positive and the authors are obviously proud of their achievements, but they avoid exaggeration of self-congradulation. The introductory historical essays, stretching from the Roman days to 1945, are masterful pieces of conciseness and clarity. The essays that follow, probably the most interesting to the specialist, discuss the difficult period of the late 1940s and 1950s when the European Community was being forged and success was not assured. The last two parts portray the realities--political, economical, and social--of integrated Europe, its relations with the outside world, and the outlook for the future. Biographical data and a chronology of the European integration process. Recommended for all college and public libraries.?-Choice