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O Continente Perdido
In THE LOST CONTINENT BBC Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt tells the story of a flawed dream, a noble vision that turned dangerous, and which led Europe into its gravest crisis since World War Two - a crisis for which it was totally unprepared.
A pillar of the post-war European dream was a shared currency, and with it came easy money, seducing some countries into a wild spending binge. After the financial crash in the United States, Europe caught the cold and was left with a debt crisis that came to threaten the entire European project.
THE LOST CONTINENT is rich in anecdote, weaving together the stories of ordinary people with the high politics and drama of Europe in crisis to give an unparalleled and vivid portrait of a massive shift in modern history. It includes interviews with top officials and insiders, and dramatic accounts of key meetings.
Gavin Hewitt's THE LOST CONTINENT is a clear-eyed book by a distinguished and well-connected journalist which tells the astonishing story of how we got here and where we might be headed.
A pillar of the post-war European dream was a shared currency, and with it came easy money, seducing some countries into a wild spending binge. After the financial crash in the United States, Europe caught the cold and was left with a debt crisis that came to threaten the entire European project.
THE LOST CONTINENT is rich in anecdote, weaving together the stories of ordinary people with the high politics and drama of Europe in crisis to give an unparalleled and vivid portrait of a massive shift in modern history. It includes interviews with top officials and insiders, and dramatic accounts of key meetings.
Gavin Hewitt's THE LOST CONTINENT is a clear-eyed book by a distinguished and well-connected journalist which tells the astonishing story of how we got here and where we might be headed.
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 8, 2015
A journalistic account of the Eurozone crisis, and the power of the financial markets and strong states over sovereignty of member states in the South. The book painstakingly charts the demise of bargaining power of Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal and argues that the political project of the EU is being undermined by weak institutional mechanisms leading to German control of state finances based on the austerity model.
May 29, 2013
The Lost Continent is a journey through the Eurozone crisis that has been raging for the last 5 years or so. It portrays an out-of-touch elite, who seem more interested in their social and political agenda than the very real fears and needs of the three hundred (plus) million people they administer (after reading this book 'represent' is probably not the right word to use here).
Gavin Hewitt is the BBC Europe editor and has been involved in that channels coverage of all things Eurozone for the last several years. Bringing that experience to this book, Gavin Hewitt has written an immersive and very interesting story, which comes under the header of 'you couldn't make it up'. Whether it's the Spanish mayors building airports for tourists who have no reason to visit their regions or the Greek penchant for using low interest rates to buy Porsche 4 x 4's (to the point where their were more Cayenne's per head in Greece than there were in Germany), this book goes in to the nitty gritty of a world gone ever so slightly mad.
The book portrays a series of events where the European elite, flush from creating a new currency, refuse to come to grips with the worsening macro-economic situation they find themselves in, because of conflicting beliefs in what the European project should be about. We see a picture forming where fear of financial armageddon is matched with fear of a newly empowered Germany. France, traditionally the accepted counterbalance to Germany for many decades, now finds itself being dictated to by a country that got its house in order in the 1990's under the leadership of then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. It's safe to say Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande do not like it.
The chapters on Italy and Silvio Berlusconi would be hysterical were it not for the fact that Italy is the third largest economy in the Eurozone and, as is borne out by wiretapped phone conversations, it has a man at its helm who is more interested in getting his rocks off than actually saving his country.
The closing chapter presents Gavin Hewitt's views of where he thinks the crisis will take the Eurozone and it is not an altogether comforting view, regardless of your take on the currency.
Many books written on political and economic subject matter end up being filled with statistics and historical context and this book comes close to that when describing the two bailouts Greece received. It is, however, a necessity, considering how close Greece has come to bringing down the whole European project (and may do so again), so you have to get past that bit.
This is a highly readable and timely book, written in a fashion that means that the reader is drawn in from the start. My only gripe would be that, when it comes to Greece, a lot of what he writes would have been known by the reader prior to them reading this book. That, however, is not Gavin Hewitt's fault. The blanket coverage that the Eurozone crisis has received in the past few years means that we all now know more about European politics and economics than is really healthy for anybody that doesn't work in Brussels.
I would suggest approaching this book by using it as a companion to the news and not as something from which you will learn anything you won't have seen in the coverage in the last few years. This book is at its strongest when speaking about the human impact of austerity and the financial incompetence of those in charge. taken like that this book is an excellent read and I would highly recommend it.
Gavin Hewitt is the BBC Europe editor and has been involved in that channels coverage of all things Eurozone for the last several years. Bringing that experience to this book, Gavin Hewitt has written an immersive and very interesting story, which comes under the header of 'you couldn't make it up'. Whether it's the Spanish mayors building airports for tourists who have no reason to visit their regions or the Greek penchant for using low interest rates to buy Porsche 4 x 4's (to the point where their were more Cayenne's per head in Greece than there were in Germany), this book goes in to the nitty gritty of a world gone ever so slightly mad.
The book portrays a series of events where the European elite, flush from creating a new currency, refuse to come to grips with the worsening macro-economic situation they find themselves in, because of conflicting beliefs in what the European project should be about. We see a picture forming where fear of financial armageddon is matched with fear of a newly empowered Germany. France, traditionally the accepted counterbalance to Germany for many decades, now finds itself being dictated to by a country that got its house in order in the 1990's under the leadership of then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. It's safe to say Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande do not like it.
The chapters on Italy and Silvio Berlusconi would be hysterical were it not for the fact that Italy is the third largest economy in the Eurozone and, as is borne out by wiretapped phone conversations, it has a man at its helm who is more interested in getting his rocks off than actually saving his country.
The closing chapter presents Gavin Hewitt's views of where he thinks the crisis will take the Eurozone and it is not an altogether comforting view, regardless of your take on the currency.
Many books written on political and economic subject matter end up being filled with statistics and historical context and this book comes close to that when describing the two bailouts Greece received. It is, however, a necessity, considering how close Greece has come to bringing down the whole European project (and may do so again), so you have to get past that bit.
This is a highly readable and timely book, written in a fashion that means that the reader is drawn in from the start. My only gripe would be that, when it comes to Greece, a lot of what he writes would have been known by the reader prior to them reading this book. That, however, is not Gavin Hewitt's fault. The blanket coverage that the Eurozone crisis has received in the past few years means that we all now know more about European politics and economics than is really healthy for anybody that doesn't work in Brussels.
I would suggest approaching this book by using it as a companion to the news and not as something from which you will learn anything you won't have seen in the coverage in the last few years. This book is at its strongest when speaking about the human impact of austerity and the financial incompetence of those in charge. taken like that this book is an excellent read and I would highly recommend it.
September 3, 2017
Good book. Yet in in spite of its critical view of EU elites, it still contains a romantic view of EU "Over time, this union proved a beacon for democracy, encouraging the countries of eastern Europe to shed their communist past." It is simply not true.
CEE countries shed communism because the communist regimes had nothing more to offer to their citizens who grew angry of the chronic economic shortages of 1980s and lies in the society. On the other hand, the communist leaders felt opportunity to jump the sinking ship and flip their power and contacts to the other side. If there were ever beacon of freedom: it was America. It there were a beacon of welfare and riches, it were Germany and Austria, not any abstract EU.
CEE countries shed communism because the communist regimes had nothing more to offer to their citizens who grew angry of the chronic economic shortages of 1980s and lies in the society. On the other hand, the communist leaders felt opportunity to jump the sinking ship and flip their power and contacts to the other side. If there were ever beacon of freedom: it was America. It there were a beacon of welfare and riches, it were Germany and Austria, not any abstract EU.
November 11, 2021
Really interesting account of the fall out caused by the imposition of a single currency across the EU from the former economics editor of the BBC. The book focuses on the events that followed the financial crisis of 2008 which exposed the fundamental problems created by adopting the same currency across so many different economies. It also highlighted the many fudges and instances of fiddling the figures to ensure that the single currency was implemented. The book would have benefitted by having an additional chapter at the beginning going into more detail about how the single currency came about in the first place and how the EU prepared the different economies for it (or failed to prepare them).
December 14, 2024
Good book
Highlights well and exemplifies the eurozone crisis
Highlights well and exemplifies the eurozone crisis
November 3, 2013
A crise na Europa explicada tintim por tintim. E muito bem explicadinha.
May 19, 2014
Worth reading if you want to know more about the ins and outs of what went on!!
December 27, 2013
Excelente apontamento sobre o que jaz sob o manto negro da austeridade na Zona Euro.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews