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Europe: A New History
A new history of the idea of Europe from Ancient Greece to the present
'A magisterial history, written with great panache, that is both enlightening and deeply readable. A true tour de force - Peter Frankopan
What do we talk about when we talk about Europe? Is it defined by geography? Or is it politics, or shared culture? In Europe, award-winning historian Roderick Beaton tells the story of Europe as never before - as the history of an idea, and a collective identity.
Since its dramatic birth in ancient Greece, 'Europe' has been defined, and redefined, by its people. Through this powerful lens, and with the narrative drive and scope of a novelist, Beaton deftly surveys Europe’s major historical the rise and fall of Rome; the explosion of Christianity; the intellectual ferment of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment; the arrival of Europeans in the Americas; the violent upheavals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and the uncertainties of the present. Throughout, original sources allow the voices of the past, from Tacitus to Thatcher, to speak for themselves.
Grappling with the multilayered identities that have always come with being European, Europe places the Europe of today in a long arc of history stretching back more than 2,500 years.
'A magisterial history, written with great panache, that is both enlightening and deeply readable. A true tour de force - Peter Frankopan
What do we talk about when we talk about Europe? Is it defined by geography? Or is it politics, or shared culture? In Europe, award-winning historian Roderick Beaton tells the story of Europe as never before - as the history of an idea, and a collective identity.
Since its dramatic birth in ancient Greece, 'Europe' has been defined, and redefined, by its people. Through this powerful lens, and with the narrative drive and scope of a novelist, Beaton deftly surveys Europe’s major historical the rise and fall of Rome; the explosion of Christianity; the intellectual ferment of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment; the arrival of Europeans in the Americas; the violent upheavals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and the uncertainties of the present. Throughout, original sources allow the voices of the past, from Tacitus to Thatcher, to speak for themselves.
Grappling with the multilayered identities that have always come with being European, Europe places the Europe of today in a long arc of history stretching back more than 2,500 years.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2026
About the author
Roderick Beaton
43 books67 followersRoderick Macleod Beaton, FBA, FKC (born 1951) is a retired academic. He was Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London from 1988 to 2018.
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March 23, 2026To call the story of European history familiar would be an understatement. From early childhood young Europeans are taught to see its stages – Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and so on – as the narrative superstructure of history itself. New events certainly occur and in time are inscribed into the history books, but rarely are they really so dramatic as to change the entire narrative thrust of European history.
Understandably then, Roderick Beaton begins Europe: A New History with a pre-emptive justification for its very existence, knowing that many readers will be picking it up with the same questions in mind: ‘Why a “new” history? Why might we need one? And what makes this one new?’ Perhaps a better question would be: how ‘new’ does the story of thousands of years of cataclysmic wars, febrile revolutions, apocalyptic plagues, transformational technologies, and social upheavals really need to be to be interesting? Beaton need not apologise for weighing down the nation’s bookshelves with another history of Europe. It is a great book, the kind of top-down grand-sweep history that can all too easily descend into drudgery when inelegantly handled. He follows a familiar enough sequence of events but plays with it enough that it does feel fresh.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Luka Ivan Jukic is the author of Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea (Hurst, 2025).
Understandably then, Roderick Beaton begins Europe: A New History with a pre-emptive justification for its very existence, knowing that many readers will be picking it up with the same questions in mind: ‘Why a “new” history? Why might we need one? And what makes this one new?’ Perhaps a better question would be: how ‘new’ does the story of thousands of years of cataclysmic wars, febrile revolutions, apocalyptic plagues, transformational technologies, and social upheavals really need to be to be interesting? Beaton need not apologise for weighing down the nation’s bookshelves with another history of Europe. It is a great book, the kind of top-down grand-sweep history that can all too easily descend into drudgery when inelegantly handled. He follows a familiar enough sequence of events but plays with it enough that it does feel fresh.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Luka Ivan Jukic is the author of Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea (Hurst, 2025).
July 9, 2026
This is very bland, basic, and doesn't cover anything that hasn't already been covered before. If you are completely new to European history, this might be useful, but otherwise, it's a waste of time. There are YouTube videos with more details than what this work offers, with the medieval period receiving a frustratingly shallow overview. What's even the point of this book?
The author also has an obvious liberal bias.
The author also has an obvious liberal bias.
May 21, 2026
This is an ambitious and sweeping attempt to narrate the story of Europe from antiquity to the modern age. Having previously read Beaton’s work on the Greeks, particularly The Greeks: A Global History, I approached this text with high expectations. Beaton has demonstrated in earlier works an extraordinary command of historical material and a rare ability to synthesize political, cultural, and intellectual developments into an accessible narrative. That same scholarly rigor is clearly present here. The research behind this book is undeniably impressive. The breadth of sources, the chronological command, and the confidence with which Beaton moves across centuries and civilizations all testify to a historian deeply immersed in his subject. Yet despite admiring the scholarship, I found myself questioning the necessity of this book and, more importantly, the effectiveness of its vast scope.
The central aim of Europe: A New History is to redefine the idea of Europe by tracing the development of the continent not merely as a geographical space but as a historical and cultural project. Beaton challenges simplistic narratives of European exceptionalism and instead portrays Europe as a product of constant interaction, conflict, migration, and exchange with neighboring civilizations. The book begins with the ancient Mediterranean world, exploring the legacies of Greece and Rome, before moving into the Christianization of Europe, the rise of Byzantium, the Islamic expansions into Iberia and the Balkans, the medieval period, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, imperialism, nationalism, the world wars, and finally the modern European Union.
One of the book’s strengths is the sheer range of topics it attempts to encompass. Beaton discusses the Roman Empire’s administrative structures, the influence of Christianity on political authority, the fragmentation of Europe after Rome’s collapse, the importance of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman presence in southeastern Europe, colonial expansion, scientific development, industrialization, and the ideological crises of the twentieth century. Throughout, he seeks to demonstrate that Europe was never culturally homogeneous and that its identity has always been contested and evolving.
However, this extraordinary breadth also becomes the book’s greatest weakness. The scope is simply too large for meaningful depth. Entire centuries and transformative events are condensed into a few pages, often leaving the reader with broad summaries rather than sustained analysis. Important figures appear briefly before disappearing again into the relentless march of chronology. Complex developments such as the Protestant Reformation, the Napoleonic Wars, or the collapse of empires in the twentieth century receive competent but ultimately superficial treatment. The result is a history that often feels encyclopedic rather than interpretive.
This raises a larger question about the need for this book in the first place. Histories of Europe are hardly rare, and Beaton’s account does not fundamentally alter established interpretations of European history. Much of the material presented here will already be familiar to readers with even a moderate background in world history. The broad narrative—that Europe emerged through overlapping traditions of classical antiquity, Christianity, empire, and conflict—is not especially new. While Beaton occasionally reframes familiar episodes in interesting ways, the book rarely offers genuinely original arguments or transformative insights. Instead, it often feels like a highly polished synthesis of existing scholarship rather than a groundbreaking reinterpretation.
That is not necessarily a flaw in itself. Synthetic histories have value, especially for general audiences. Yet the subtitle “A New History” inevitably promises innovation, and I struggled to identify what exactly is “new” about the narrative being presented. The text is comprehensive, intelligent, and highly readable, but it rarely challenged my understanding of Europe or forced me to reconsider historical assumptions. By the end, I felt that I had read a competent summary of European history rather than encountered a bold new vision of it.
Ironically, the book hints at several potentially fascinating approaches that it never fully develops. Beaton repeatedly acknowledges the centrality of religion in shaping Europe, yet religion remains largely one topic among many rather than the organizing principle of the narrative. A history of Europe told explicitly through the interactions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism could have yielded far deeper insights into the continent’s identity. Europe was profoundly shaped by religious coexistence and conflict: the Christianization of pagan societies, the theological disputes between eastern and western Christianity, the centuries-long interactions between Christianity and Islam in Spain and the Balkans, and the persistent yet precarious role of Jewish communities throughout European history. Framing the continent’s development through these religious encounters might have produced a more coherent and intellectually distinctive interpretation.
Similarly, the book occasionally touches on art, architecture, literature, and disease, but never long enough to explore their transformative power. A history of Europe through art would have been extraordinary, tracing how visual culture reflected shifts in political authority, spiritual imagination, and social identity from Gothic cathedrals to Renaissance painting to modernist experimentation. Likewise, a history centered on disease could have illuminated Europe in striking ways. The Black Death, recurring plagues, cholera epidemics, and influenza pandemics profoundly altered economies, social structures, labor relations, religious belief, and state power. Such thematic approaches might have allowed for deeper analysis rather than the rapid survey offered here.
Instead, Beaton attempts to cover everything, and in doing so the narrative occasionally loses focus. The book moves quickly from event to event, empire to empire, century to century, often sacrificing interpretive depth for comprehensiveness. There were many moments where I wanted Beaton to pause, elaborate, and interrogate historical developments more thoroughly. Yet the demands of the timeline constantly push the narrative forward before these opportunities can be fully explored.
None of this diminishes Beaton’s achievement as a scholar. The level of research and synthesis on display is remarkable, and there is undeniable value in producing a single-volume history that spans such an immense chronological and geographical range. Readers entirely new to European history will likely find the book informative and accessible. Nevertheless, for readers already familiar with the broad contours of European history, the book may feel less revelatory than its title suggests.
Ultimately, Europe: A New History is an impressive but frustrating work. I admired the scholarship far more than I enjoyed the reading experience itself. Beaton’s command of history is evident on every page, yet the ambitious scope ultimately prevents the book from offering the depth, originality, or interpretive boldness that might justify its existence alongside countless other histories of Europe. While I respect the monumental effort behind it, I finished the book feeling that I had learned very little that I did not already know.
The central aim of Europe: A New History is to redefine the idea of Europe by tracing the development of the continent not merely as a geographical space but as a historical and cultural project. Beaton challenges simplistic narratives of European exceptionalism and instead portrays Europe as a product of constant interaction, conflict, migration, and exchange with neighboring civilizations. The book begins with the ancient Mediterranean world, exploring the legacies of Greece and Rome, before moving into the Christianization of Europe, the rise of Byzantium, the Islamic expansions into Iberia and the Balkans, the medieval period, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, imperialism, nationalism, the world wars, and finally the modern European Union.
One of the book’s strengths is the sheer range of topics it attempts to encompass. Beaton discusses the Roman Empire’s administrative structures, the influence of Christianity on political authority, the fragmentation of Europe after Rome’s collapse, the importance of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman presence in southeastern Europe, colonial expansion, scientific development, industrialization, and the ideological crises of the twentieth century. Throughout, he seeks to demonstrate that Europe was never culturally homogeneous and that its identity has always been contested and evolving.
However, this extraordinary breadth also becomes the book’s greatest weakness. The scope is simply too large for meaningful depth. Entire centuries and transformative events are condensed into a few pages, often leaving the reader with broad summaries rather than sustained analysis. Important figures appear briefly before disappearing again into the relentless march of chronology. Complex developments such as the Protestant Reformation, the Napoleonic Wars, or the collapse of empires in the twentieth century receive competent but ultimately superficial treatment. The result is a history that often feels encyclopedic rather than interpretive.
This raises a larger question about the need for this book in the first place. Histories of Europe are hardly rare, and Beaton’s account does not fundamentally alter established interpretations of European history. Much of the material presented here will already be familiar to readers with even a moderate background in world history. The broad narrative—that Europe emerged through overlapping traditions of classical antiquity, Christianity, empire, and conflict—is not especially new. While Beaton occasionally reframes familiar episodes in interesting ways, the book rarely offers genuinely original arguments or transformative insights. Instead, it often feels like a highly polished synthesis of existing scholarship rather than a groundbreaking reinterpretation.
That is not necessarily a flaw in itself. Synthetic histories have value, especially for general audiences. Yet the subtitle “A New History” inevitably promises innovation, and I struggled to identify what exactly is “new” about the narrative being presented. The text is comprehensive, intelligent, and highly readable, but it rarely challenged my understanding of Europe or forced me to reconsider historical assumptions. By the end, I felt that I had read a competent summary of European history rather than encountered a bold new vision of it.
Ironically, the book hints at several potentially fascinating approaches that it never fully develops. Beaton repeatedly acknowledges the centrality of religion in shaping Europe, yet religion remains largely one topic among many rather than the organizing principle of the narrative. A history of Europe told explicitly through the interactions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism could have yielded far deeper insights into the continent’s identity. Europe was profoundly shaped by religious coexistence and conflict: the Christianization of pagan societies, the theological disputes between eastern and western Christianity, the centuries-long interactions between Christianity and Islam in Spain and the Balkans, and the persistent yet precarious role of Jewish communities throughout European history. Framing the continent’s development through these religious encounters might have produced a more coherent and intellectually distinctive interpretation.
Similarly, the book occasionally touches on art, architecture, literature, and disease, but never long enough to explore their transformative power. A history of Europe through art would have been extraordinary, tracing how visual culture reflected shifts in political authority, spiritual imagination, and social identity from Gothic cathedrals to Renaissance painting to modernist experimentation. Likewise, a history centered on disease could have illuminated Europe in striking ways. The Black Death, recurring plagues, cholera epidemics, and influenza pandemics profoundly altered economies, social structures, labor relations, religious belief, and state power. Such thematic approaches might have allowed for deeper analysis rather than the rapid survey offered here.
Instead, Beaton attempts to cover everything, and in doing so the narrative occasionally loses focus. The book moves quickly from event to event, empire to empire, century to century, often sacrificing interpretive depth for comprehensiveness. There were many moments where I wanted Beaton to pause, elaborate, and interrogate historical developments more thoroughly. Yet the demands of the timeline constantly push the narrative forward before these opportunities can be fully explored.
None of this diminishes Beaton’s achievement as a scholar. The level of research and synthesis on display is remarkable, and there is undeniable value in producing a single-volume history that spans such an immense chronological and geographical range. Readers entirely new to European history will likely find the book informative and accessible. Nevertheless, for readers already familiar with the broad contours of European history, the book may feel less revelatory than its title suggests.
Ultimately, Europe: A New History is an impressive but frustrating work. I admired the scholarship far more than I enjoyed the reading experience itself. Beaton’s command of history is evident on every page, yet the ambitious scope ultimately prevents the book from offering the depth, originality, or interpretive boldness that might justify its existence alongside countless other histories of Europe. While I respect the monumental effort behind it, I finished the book feeling that I had learned very little that I did not already know.
June 28, 2026
A good, sprawling history of Europe. I don’t think there is anything new here but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. A point he made about the Anabaptists and why denying infant baptism was so radical with the high infant mortality rate of the time, was something I had never considered before.
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April 4, 2026Frankopan recommends it, so I will steer clear.
March 19, 2026
Europe: A New History is a forthcoming work by the distinguished scholar of Greek and Byzantine studies, Roderick Beaton. The book sets out to explore what Beaton calls the “idea of Europe,” tracing how European nations have understood themselves in relation to a broader continental identity. As in his earlier work on the founding of modern Greece, Beaton’s approach is grounded in an interest in how nations emerge over time, shaped by enduring ideas and values that persist across centuries.
In this work, Beaton attempts an ambitious synthesis: a “new” history of Europe stretching from its “invention” roughly 2,500 years ago in the city-states of ancient Greece to contemporary geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine. The throughline of the book is the claim that Europe possesses a deep and continuous tradition, expressed through successive historical moments: the civic culture of the Greek polis; the first multiethnic “superstate” under Philip of Macedon; the legal and political frameworks of the Roman Empire; the emergence of national consciousness during the Reformation; the balance-of-power system established after the Treaty of Westphalia; the universalist ideals of liberty articulated during the French Revolution; the cooperative diplomacy of the Concert of Europe; and, finally, the development of modern supranational institutions such as the European Union. Through this broad survey, Beaton seeks to situate Europe within a shared cultural and political inheritance, while also warning that its legacy faces mounting pressure from contemporary challenges, including an assertive Russia and a more distant United States.
Unfortunately, the book ultimately disappoints. Despite its framing, the history presented here feels neither especially new nor meaningfully revisionist. It offers few original insights, does not appear to engage with new source material, and struggles to sustain a clear or compelling central argument. Most notably, Beaton never fully succeeds in defining what the “idea of Europe” that has persisted over time is, especially given the continent’s long history of conflict, fragmentation, and ideological division. As a result, the book often reads less like a novel narrative analysis and more like a rapid survey of well-trodden ground. Covering more than two millennia in a single volume, it sacrifices depth for breadth, frequently skimming over complex developments without sufficient analytical rigor. Readers already familiar with the field will likely find little here that advances their understanding, particularly when compared with more substantial and analytically rich histories of Europe already in circulation.
In the end, while the scope is undeniably ambitious, the execution falls short. For those seeking a deeper or more original engagement with European history, there are stronger alternatives available.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this work.
In this work, Beaton attempts an ambitious synthesis: a “new” history of Europe stretching from its “invention” roughly 2,500 years ago in the city-states of ancient Greece to contemporary geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine. The throughline of the book is the claim that Europe possesses a deep and continuous tradition, expressed through successive historical moments: the civic culture of the Greek polis; the first multiethnic “superstate” under Philip of Macedon; the legal and political frameworks of the Roman Empire; the emergence of national consciousness during the Reformation; the balance-of-power system established after the Treaty of Westphalia; the universalist ideals of liberty articulated during the French Revolution; the cooperative diplomacy of the Concert of Europe; and, finally, the development of modern supranational institutions such as the European Union. Through this broad survey, Beaton seeks to situate Europe within a shared cultural and political inheritance, while also warning that its legacy faces mounting pressure from contemporary challenges, including an assertive Russia and a more distant United States.
Unfortunately, the book ultimately disappoints. Despite its framing, the history presented here feels neither especially new nor meaningfully revisionist. It offers few original insights, does not appear to engage with new source material, and struggles to sustain a clear or compelling central argument. Most notably, Beaton never fully succeeds in defining what the “idea of Europe” that has persisted over time is, especially given the continent’s long history of conflict, fragmentation, and ideological division. As a result, the book often reads less like a novel narrative analysis and more like a rapid survey of well-trodden ground. Covering more than two millennia in a single volume, it sacrifices depth for breadth, frequently skimming over complex developments without sufficient analytical rigor. Readers already familiar with the field will likely find little here that advances their understanding, particularly when compared with more substantial and analytically rich histories of Europe already in circulation.
In the end, while the scope is undeniably ambitious, the execution falls short. For those seeking a deeper or more original engagement with European history, there are stronger alternatives available.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this work.
May 27, 2026
Listened to this one on audio, which worked fairly well. It's not the kind of book that demands a ton of underlining, rather it's interested in drawing out a historical narrative. One that begins with the Greek city-states (or more accurately with the seed bed that gives rise to them) and ends with the modern geo-political realities of 2026.
What's the essential aim of the book? What makes it new? I was trying to put finger on the pulse of that question, and I think I would simply say the folloiwng: the author (historian Roderick Beaton) wants to take a fresh look at our present geo-political reality by seeing it through the lens of the development of this idea called Europe.
This of course reaches into the global space (as all lenses do, giving us a way to interpret the world), but the difference is, the thing that makes the authors point of view a fresh outlook on an old idea, how we understand the global space depends on our understanding of the European idea. We cannot get to present without it. Here the author puts forth the premise that the historical narrative has been shaped largely by two distinct and co-relating truisms: the existence of this notion of the super-nation on one hand, and the existence of warring super-powers. Who or what controls the other is the pertinent question when it comes to parsing out the nature of the world's conflicts.
To this end I found the author's premise compelling and persuasive. i was most interested in the ealier portions, which lays the foundation for the conversation in the ancient world, and the latter portions, which speak directly to the world that I know today and to our present conflicts. Middle portions, specifically the ones dealing with the world wars, weren't insignificant (far from it and perhaps the most significant moments in this discussion), they were simply overly familiar territory. The second world war is one of the most studied, written about, disected, documented historical periods in the modern era after all.
As I like to at least attempt to do, boiling this all down to a reduced summary of what is a broader picture remains tough. The most important ideas pertain again to the question of these two governing forces, the super-nation versus the super-power. Much of this discussion, which interestly enough feels to be incessently conjuring up the ghosts of the Roman Empire, traverses the relationship between America and Russia. It was fascinating to put on the fresh lens the author is providing and see in that historical narrative the ways in which the idea of Europe, for as tumoltuous as it has been in the divisions that plague it, has forever existed within the push and pull of these two nations. Even more fascinating to consider how the idea of Europe has played into the rise of these two super-powers.
As the author maps out, the tension lies in this similtaneous tendency to ignore the face of these super-powers and the nature and revelance of their presence as (in perception) antithetical forces. What is often missed is the simple fact that both super-powers actually need (and want) this idea of the EU, the present day response to the divide that has plagued Europe in the past and a symbol of it's ideolgoical presence, to persist and remain stable? Why? Because for as long as nations are held in check by the EU, the superpowers retain their grip. The flipside to this: the EU, at least a functioning one, is actually the European nations greatest counter to the superpowers. The thing is, the superpowers know why this need not be feared: the states which make up the nations will forever be held in check by the fears that nationalism creates. And there is no better source for stoking these fears than the nationalism of a given superpower, especially in the aftermath of the Cold War. Thus, one can look back through history and see how nearly every move America has made on the global front has been in the express interest of both ensuring the EU remains stable while also ensuring that they stoke those fears (for example, their role and interests in stabilizing a divided Germany against their once disinterest in the EU).
It's worth stating here that, one of the distinctives of the idea of Europe is that it is an idea built on a different kind of power than that of America and Russia. It is a power of collective influence and investment in policy rather than military. Hence why the superpowers have such a massive grip over it's functionality. When the threat is always (in modern terms) nuclear, you are always a slave. Meanwhile, America and Russia retain it's power through might, something that in a global age has turned into an equal investment in geo-politics (it's always about occupation and control of space and borders in a geo-political reality). It's often assume that "America" is the great modern idea (or ideal), the grand experiment leading the world into the new era. What is apparent, and this is true for any superpower appealing to an ideal in such a way, is that this is in fact a shadow of a pre-existing imagination called Europe parlayed into a functional Empire (superpower). The one thing that convices people this is something other is how people think of military power as the necessary tool of the ideal. This is the great lie of the modern age, and it's built on the back of Rome.
There is an element here of buying into this particular lens which requires a reader to endorse some semblance of respect for the idea of Europe to begin with. It's easy to see the conflict and to anylyze the challenges, but if you don't think it's a proper aim one might be a bit retiscent to give it the degree of global and historical importance the author does. This is going to be hardest for those who exist within the language and culture of the superpowers. That alone is worth asking why that retiscence exists and where it arises within the historical narrative. It's also worth asking why the idea of Europe matters as well to the world as a whole. I think posing both of those questions providesd a challenging but rewarding inroad into breaking out of some of our preconceptions, even those that exist within Europe itself.
What's the essential aim of the book? What makes it new? I was trying to put finger on the pulse of that question, and I think I would simply say the folloiwng: the author (historian Roderick Beaton) wants to take a fresh look at our present geo-political reality by seeing it through the lens of the development of this idea called Europe.
This of course reaches into the global space (as all lenses do, giving us a way to interpret the world), but the difference is, the thing that makes the authors point of view a fresh outlook on an old idea, how we understand the global space depends on our understanding of the European idea. We cannot get to present without it. Here the author puts forth the premise that the historical narrative has been shaped largely by two distinct and co-relating truisms: the existence of this notion of the super-nation on one hand, and the existence of warring super-powers. Who or what controls the other is the pertinent question when it comes to parsing out the nature of the world's conflicts.
To this end I found the author's premise compelling and persuasive. i was most interested in the ealier portions, which lays the foundation for the conversation in the ancient world, and the latter portions, which speak directly to the world that I know today and to our present conflicts. Middle portions, specifically the ones dealing with the world wars, weren't insignificant (far from it and perhaps the most significant moments in this discussion), they were simply overly familiar territory. The second world war is one of the most studied, written about, disected, documented historical periods in the modern era after all.
As I like to at least attempt to do, boiling this all down to a reduced summary of what is a broader picture remains tough. The most important ideas pertain again to the question of these two governing forces, the super-nation versus the super-power. Much of this discussion, which interestly enough feels to be incessently conjuring up the ghosts of the Roman Empire, traverses the relationship between America and Russia. It was fascinating to put on the fresh lens the author is providing and see in that historical narrative the ways in which the idea of Europe, for as tumoltuous as it has been in the divisions that plague it, has forever existed within the push and pull of these two nations. Even more fascinating to consider how the idea of Europe has played into the rise of these two super-powers.
As the author maps out, the tension lies in this similtaneous tendency to ignore the face of these super-powers and the nature and revelance of their presence as (in perception) antithetical forces. What is often missed is the simple fact that both super-powers actually need (and want) this idea of the EU, the present day response to the divide that has plagued Europe in the past and a symbol of it's ideolgoical presence, to persist and remain stable? Why? Because for as long as nations are held in check by the EU, the superpowers retain their grip. The flipside to this: the EU, at least a functioning one, is actually the European nations greatest counter to the superpowers. The thing is, the superpowers know why this need not be feared: the states which make up the nations will forever be held in check by the fears that nationalism creates. And there is no better source for stoking these fears than the nationalism of a given superpower, especially in the aftermath of the Cold War. Thus, one can look back through history and see how nearly every move America has made on the global front has been in the express interest of both ensuring the EU remains stable while also ensuring that they stoke those fears (for example, their role and interests in stabilizing a divided Germany against their once disinterest in the EU).
It's worth stating here that, one of the distinctives of the idea of Europe is that it is an idea built on a different kind of power than that of America and Russia. It is a power of collective influence and investment in policy rather than military. Hence why the superpowers have such a massive grip over it's functionality. When the threat is always (in modern terms) nuclear, you are always a slave. Meanwhile, America and Russia retain it's power through might, something that in a global age has turned into an equal investment in geo-politics (it's always about occupation and control of space and borders in a geo-political reality). It's often assume that "America" is the great modern idea (or ideal), the grand experiment leading the world into the new era. What is apparent, and this is true for any superpower appealing to an ideal in such a way, is that this is in fact a shadow of a pre-existing imagination called Europe parlayed into a functional Empire (superpower). The one thing that convices people this is something other is how people think of military power as the necessary tool of the ideal. This is the great lie of the modern age, and it's built on the back of Rome.
There is an element here of buying into this particular lens which requires a reader to endorse some semblance of respect for the idea of Europe to begin with. It's easy to see the conflict and to anylyze the challenges, but if you don't think it's a proper aim one might be a bit retiscent to give it the degree of global and historical importance the author does. This is going to be hardest for those who exist within the language and culture of the superpowers. That alone is worth asking why that retiscence exists and where it arises within the historical narrative. It's also worth asking why the idea of Europe matters as well to the world as a whole. I think posing both of those questions providesd a challenging but rewarding inroad into breaking out of some of our preconceptions, even those that exist within Europe itself.
July 7, 2026
Roderick Beaton’s “Europe: A New History” is ambitious. It seeks to establish the concept of “Europe” as a unitary historical and sociopolitical entity, by examining how the place and people reacted to external and internal threats and forces. While aspects of Beaton’s hypothesis are compelling and persuasive —namely, that European identity was largely forged through warfare against eastern threats—I don’t buy Beaton’s premise that “the rule of law” and the pursuit of “social justice” are qualities that characterize European statecraft and identity. Beaton traces these characteristics to classical Greece and Rome—both of which were slave societies that rampaged and pillaged every where they went. He continues to highlight these lofty ideals, all the way through the eras of inquisition, genocide, and trans Atlantic slavery. These are contradictions that Beaton does not adequately deal with. Indeed, it is ironic that in a chapter titled “Becoming European — Inventing Civilization,” Beaton details some of the most violent and turbulent times in pre-modern European history, centering around full-scale religious fragmentation and fundamentalism, without directly addressing how this impacted this so-called “civilization” that Europe invented. This begs the question, what exactly does Beaton mean by “civilization”?
Despite this, the book does a good job driving home the point that the concept of “Europe” as we understand it today was forged from West-East warfare (beginning with the Greeks vs. the Persians), and Roman-“Barbarian” conflict that ultimately resulted in the spread of Latin culture (particularly, Christianity), as well as the various Germanic languages. Without this warfare and violent conflict, there is no “European” identity. However, while I found this book’s central premise that European identity calcifies in the face of threats from the east to be a compelling explanation for ancient to pre-modern history, the theory began to breakdown when analyzing the ages of exploration and global imperialism. During these more modern times, European identity seems to have coalesced around domination, genocide, and enslavement. A focus on European history and identity is incomplete without a full accounting of this fact. This book comes up a bit short in that regards. Still, I recommend this book for its sheer breadth of information and sources on European history.
Despite this, the book does a good job driving home the point that the concept of “Europe” as we understand it today was forged from West-East warfare (beginning with the Greeks vs. the Persians), and Roman-“Barbarian” conflict that ultimately resulted in the spread of Latin culture (particularly, Christianity), as well as the various Germanic languages. Without this warfare and violent conflict, there is no “European” identity. However, while I found this book’s central premise that European identity calcifies in the face of threats from the east to be a compelling explanation for ancient to pre-modern history, the theory began to breakdown when analyzing the ages of exploration and global imperialism. During these more modern times, European identity seems to have coalesced around domination, genocide, and enslavement. A focus on European history and identity is incomplete without a full accounting of this fact. This book comes up a bit short in that regards. Still, I recommend this book for its sheer breadth of information and sources on European history.
April 29, 2026
Europe: A New History presents an expansive exploration of Europe as an evolving idea rather than a fixed geographical entity.
By following the concept of Europe from its origins in ancient Greece through centuries of political, religious, and cultural transformation, Roderick Beaton demonstrates how identity has continually been shaped by conflict, exchange, and reinvention. The broad historical scope is balanced by the use of primary voices, which adds texture and immediacy.
The book succeeds in showing that Europe has always been more than borders or institutions. It is a layered and often contested identity, one that continues to evolve in response to changing circumstances.
A thoughtful and wide ranging work that will appeal to readers of history, politics, and cultural studies.
By following the concept of Europe from its origins in ancient Greece through centuries of political, religious, and cultural transformation, Roderick Beaton demonstrates how identity has continually been shaped by conflict, exchange, and reinvention. The broad historical scope is balanced by the use of primary voices, which adds texture and immediacy.
The book succeeds in showing that Europe has always been more than borders or institutions. It is a layered and often contested identity, one that continues to evolve in response to changing circumstances.
A thoughtful and wide ranging work that will appeal to readers of history, politics, and cultural studies.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Is Europe defined by geography, politics, or shared culture? Award-winning historian Roderick Beaton tells the story of Europe with a new approach; as the history of an idea, and a collective identity. over a 2500-year period. From the Greek struggles against the Persians to Russians in Ukraine, Beaton creates a context for understanding the notion of Europe as an evolving - but constant - notion. Very well written and accessible. Recommended. I appreciate the publisher providing an electronic ARC via Netgalley.
July 11, 2026
Easily digestible overview, limited in scope, of course, due to size/time constraints. “How wrong can you be?” Caught me off-guard, but made me sad laugh and bookmark that page.
Other bookmarked lines:
“It has been pointed out that ‘Wilson’s aim was not so much as to make the ‘world safe for democracy,’ as to make America safer in the world through the promotion of democracy .”
I could potentially have given this more stars, but I admittedly don’t possess extensive enough knowledge/background to look at the facts presented with a sufficiently discerning eye.
Other bookmarked lines:
“It has been pointed out that ‘Wilson’s aim was not so much as to make the ‘world safe for democracy,’ as to make America safer in the world through the promotion of democracy .”
I could potentially have given this more stars, but I admittedly don’t possess extensive enough knowledge/background to look at the facts presented with a sufficiently discerning eye.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. Beaton does an excellent job tracing a through line of thought from Ancient Greece to the current war between Russia and Ukraine. Beaton is concise in his writing, but this concision does not come at the expense of depth of research. I wish this book had been 100 pages longer, but that would have gone against the spirit of the project he undertook. An immensely readable and informative book.
June 27, 2026
This is a useful and readable book, despite its broad scope, and here you can read The Telegraph's review, published 24 March 2026: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/15f9...
Only near the end does the author reveal his true colours when he bemoans Brexit.
Only near the end does the author reveal his true colours when he bemoans Brexit.
May 10, 2026
I read the first half diligently, then skim read the rest, picking out the bits I found interesting. Good to have in your library, to pick up when the mood inspires you.
Read
June 25, 2026Kind of slop but I think the idea of a general European history organized around the telos of the contemporary EU is interesting and this scratched that itch without being too annoying.
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