Europe: A Cultural History

by Peter Rietbergen

This third, revised and augmented edition of Peter Rietbergen’s highly acclaimed A Cultural History provides a major and original contribution to the study of Europe. From ancient Babylonian law codes to Pope Urban’s call to crusade in 1095, and from Michelangelo on Italian art in 1538 to Sting’s songs in the late twentieth century, the expressions of the culture that has developed in Europe are diverse and wide-ranging. This exceptional text expertly connects this variety, explaining them to the reader in a thorough and yet highly readable style. Presented chronologically, A Cultural History examines the many cultural building blocks of Europe, stressing their importance in the formation of the continent’s ever-changing cultural identities. Starting with the beginnings of agricultural society and ending with the mass culture of the early twenty-first century, the book uses literature, art, science, technology and music to examine Europe’s cultural history in terms of continuity and change. Rietbergen looks at how societies developed new ways of surviving, believing, consuming and communicating throughout the period. His book is distinctive in paying particular attention to the ways early Europe has been formed through the impact of a variety of cultures, from Celtic and German to Greek and Roman. The role of Christianity is stressed, but as a contested variable, as are the influences from, for example, Asia in the early modern period and from American culture and Islamic immigrants in more recent times. Since anxieties over Europe's future mount, this third edition text has been thoroughly revised for the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Moreover, it now also includes a 'dossier' of some seventeen essay-like vignettes that highlight cultural phenomena said to be characteristic of social solidarity, capitalism, democracy and so forth. With a wide selection of illustrations, maps, excerpts of sources and even lyrics from contemporary songs to support the arguments, this book both serves the general reader as well as students of historical and cultural studies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Research

666 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 1998

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very textbook-textbook. Dense so dense. Its really interesting and this was my favorite course this year but this was dense. Have i said dense? because it was DENSE.

[Eveline ✩°｡⋆˚⁺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for uni — it’s very interesting, but sometimes, the formulation (the sentences) was a bit too long.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

More like a racially pure history of a vaguely defined geographical area of land.

[Rianne Heartfilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So obviously we had to read this for the University but that doesn't mean it wasn't interesting. The thing is just that if you don't have a general knowledge of Europe's history, you might miss a few details. Jumping from one century to one a few centuries in the future and back to something else: tenth, to seventeenth, to twelfth and so on is sometimes difficult to keep up but rather useful when it comes to the examples that Rietbergen makes.

I kind of missed the information about some kingdoms, I am lucky that I had a small idea about it and have a history-loving brother, but for example Rietbergen speaks about the Holy Roman Empire from 800 to 1806 but suddenly it has a different name which will be the Carolingian Empire and if you read a few times over you will understand what he means but at first glance for me I was totally confused why the empire suddenly had a new name, yet the old name was till 1806.

Apart from minor things like that I felt like I learned quite a bit more about the history of my continent.

[Wilco Born · Rating 3 out of 5]

Begrip van de geschiedenis is de enige, echte ervaring waar wij mensen op kunnen bouwen. Simpelweg kunnen we als tijdsgebonden wezens alleen hierdoor (herhaling van) fouten voorkomen. De wereld en maatschappij is een megagrote versie van het eigen leven van een individu zoals ik. Ook daarin is de focus het heden (leef in 'het nu', weetjewel), om met lessen uit het verleden een eigen toekomst te scheppen: een combinatie van oud en nieuw. Peter Rietbergen's inperfecte boek zette me op het gezonde pad van waardering en begrip van onze gezamenlijke diverse waarden, gedachtes en cultuur.

[Isabel]

Read this for my minor, very textbook-y.

[Luuk Rijneveld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dik en taai boek, maar heeft me ontzettend veel geleerd over de geschiedenis van Europa

[WarpDrive · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good, enjoyable, scholarly read about the cultural history of Europe (or better, of the history of the "idea" of Europe).
It might have been a 5-star, but I ended up giving it 4 stars for the following reasons:
- the initial part (dealing with the culture of the Classical World, in particular when dealing with the Roman Civilization) is definitely not of the same quality and depth as the rest of the book.
- I disagree with some of the perspectives and conclusions of the author, which I do not think are warranted by the actual historical developments (recent or not):
a) the author claims that the European culture and common heritage have been, until recently, an "elite" phenomenon, and he supports this claim by using the argument that the large majority of the population had little or no formal instruction (until recently). I seriously question and challenge this approach that conflates cultural heritage/culture and formal education levels: culture and cultural heritage are not developed and transmitted just and exclusively through the formal education process.
b)The author (page 463) is conflating/confusing physical/geographical aspects and cultural aspects when the states: "that Europe might return to its Mediterranean, partly Asian-African, origins is a fascinating thought". The cultural unity and relative homogeneity of the classical Hellenistic-Roman world, which did encompass geographical areas outside Europe, was breached by the Muslim invasions of the 7th century. I am not giving it a judgment of merit, I am not saying that it was a good or bad thing, just stating an historical fact.
c) The author, in the same page, is claiming that among the group of Islamic Europeans secularization will inevitably become stronger. This might be wishful thinking, I see no clear evidence of such process of secularization. Actually it appears to me that the Muslim world itself is struggling to cope with the opposite problem (just see what is happening in some countries like Egypt).
d) The author, again in the same page, is overstating the challenges posed to Eastern Europe by the integration with Western Europe after 1989. Actually, this integration has been progressing surprising well, which by the way also demonstrates the common cultural heritage of Eastern Europe and the rest of Europe (which the author does not really appear to fully appreciate). And, I would like to add, Russia as well (which the author neglects to consider in depth, which is a pity considering the deep historical, religious and cultural links between Russia and Europe).

Regardless of this, however, it is a very good book, highly recommended to everybody interested in the cultural aspects of the historical development of European identity.

[Michal · Rating 4 out of 5]

perkfektní kniha mapující vývoj kulturních dějin Evropy...perfektně se čte... chci ji mít doma...:-)

[Sahar Hanifi]

Read it for a class. Interesting way of explaining how the European culture has developed itself but no further comments on the textbook. On that note though, the writer did not do a great job on writing in different perspectives. His and only his way was present while reading, perhaps I am a tad disappointed.