A People's History of Modern Europe

by William A. Pelz

The origin of capitalism and modern industrialism—and, not unrelated, the birthplace of Marxism—modern Europe provided the perfect conditions for a great number of political revolutions from below. From the monarchical terror of the Middle Ages to the mangled Europe of the twenty-first century, A People’s History of Modern Europe tracks the history of the continent through the deeds of those whom mainstream history tries to forget.

Along the way, William A. Pelz examines the German peasant wars of Thomas Müntzer, the bourgeoisie revolutions of the eighteenth century, the rise of the industrial worker in England, the turbulent journey of the Russian Soviets, the role of the European working class throughout the Cold War, and the revolutionary students in 1968. He then brings his story to the present day, where we continue to fight to forge an alternative to a heartless and often barbaric economic system.

As Germany and Greece argue over who owes what, with the very idea of Europe crumbling around them, Pelz’s accessible, provocative history could not be timelier. Sure to resonate with fans of books like Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, this people’s history sweeps away the tired platitudes of the privileged and provides an opportunity to understand the story of Europe from the ground up.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2016

Reviews

[Ramzey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Europe from below and workers struggle for their rights.
I really enjoyed the authors storytelling, it was exciting and fun to read although he was biased against soviet union otherwise I would have given it 5 Stars.
I did not agree with the author about his criticism against soviet union.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, Bill had a great sense of humour and a way of writing that is very clear. And the topic is so relevant today. We really need to understand this history to be able to build a better world now.

[César · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma boa introdução à História do Povo, melhor dito uma história de baixo para cima. Introdução porque é essa a intenção do autor-realmente sente-se aqui e ali a falta de profundidade e conclusões superficiais.
Sempre gostei deste tipo de História. Normalmente sabemos bem o que os grandes líderes fizeram, esquecendo como vive e o que faz a grande maioria da população: o povo.
Desde a Idade Media até ao século XXI, deverei referir a preocupação do autor em focar o papel da mulher na História. Por vezes superando inclusivamente o objecto de estudo que é o Povo.
Nota-se muito bem ,à medida que nos aproximamos do presente, uma crescente politização do autor. Poderia fazer com que os factos apresentados nos levassem às mesmas conclusões, não estando escritas já pelo autor.
Pela boa intenção iniciática do tema e por ser um livro muito interessante, apesar do referido, as quatro estrelas justificam-se.

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well researched book and easy to read too. I'm appreciative of the events and historical figures it chooses to zoom into, as they are often overlooked in similar "summaries" of European history and it helps fill in some of the areas of history as well as the causes and effects of the better known events usually mentioned in such other works. That said, the way it switched between the "zoomed-in, thorough view" and the "this is a high level overview just to get us to the next thing we're interested in" mode was somewhat dizzying and made the passage of time somewhat hard to grasp.

[Adeel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say this book is definitely worth reading, I learned about a lot of things, but it has a lot of bad analysis.

[Haydar Şahin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yazarın kitabın başında tarafsız tarih yazımı olmadığından dem vurup, ardından tüm olayları sosyalist tezleriyle anlatması "bu ne perhiz bune lahana turşusu" dedirtti. Dil her ne kadar iyi kulanılmış olsa da kitap içerisinde amaçlı bilimsellikten uzak anlatım insana "ben ne okuyorum ya" hissi veriyor. Yazarın Amerikan devlet üniversitesinde ders veren bir sosyalist olduğunu öğrenince taşlar yerine oturuyor.


Saçmalıklardan örnek verecek olursam ;

Fransız ordusu paris'i paris komüninden geri almak istiyor. Komün orduyla savaşıyor ve yeniliyor ama nasıl oluyorsa Fransız ordusu kendi başkentini işgal etmiş oluyor. Nedeni ise o sırada pariste ordunun olmamasından yararlanıp her türlü millletten gelen komünist/sosyalist görüşteki insanların hükümet olmalarının engellenmeleri. Bak sen şu terbiyesiz Fransız ordusuna demek kendi ülkelerinde seçimle gelen hükümeti korumuşlar...


Türk ulasal devrimi "Ekonomik çöküş ve Faşizmin doğuşu" başlığından yaklaşık bir sayfada incelenmiş. Paris komününe özel bölüm olan kitapta Türkler sadece bir sayfalık yer bulabilmişler. Kitaba göre Kemalizm faşizm çünkü milliyetçi bir devrimmiş ve pek de demokrasi yokmuş. Vikipedi okuyarak bile daha fazla bilgi edinebileceğinden yazarın eleştirilebilecek ciddi bir iş ortaya koymadığını düşünüyorum.

Kitabın başlarından itibaren tarihçilerin bilinçli olarak kadınlara yapılan suçları dillendirmediğinden dem vuruluyor. Söz konusu dönemlerde köleliğin bile serbest olduğu düşünülürse, kadınların okula gönderilmemesinin çok da elzem bir detay olmadığında hem fikir olabiliriz. Bu tür mağduriyet madenciliklerinden etkileniyorsanız ayrı.

Özetle hayatınızda hiç tarihle ilgilenmemiş beyaz yakalı bir plaza çalışanıysanız kitap size değişik bilgiler verebilir ama az çok konuya vakıfsanız kötü yazılmış bir propaganda metninden öteye geçmiyor. Bu haliyle yarıda bıraktığım ender kitaplardan birisi olacak.

Bu inceleme önce blogumda yayınlanmıştır.

[Will · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF (~25%). I knew as soon as the mythical droit de seigneur was uncritically mentioned in the first chapter that this didn't bode well. Like Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States", this is more of a sloppy polemic than a work of history (but even more egregiously so), and vulgar Marxist writing at its worst. I'm an ultraleftist myself so I'm not at all against explicitly socialist history writing on principle; what I'm against is cherry-picked, half-baked scholarship done to fit a rigid schema that reads more like a pamphlet from the Socialist Workers Party than a serious history monograph. Even beyond the limits of its short length, huge events are skipped over to give a Wikipedia-level analysis to revolutions and movements whenever they appear. Often copious or even superfluous footnoting disguises the fact that countless assertions are made without evidence, many of the sources cited are 100+ old pamphlets and polemics by the likes of Kautsky and Engels (this isn't to say they weren't good theorists but rather that their treatments of history were antiquarian dilettantism), and wherever historiographical controversies are raised they aren't critically examined but merely commented on, e.g. "there is evidence that..." or "there is no space to debate this". It's ironic that a book that begins with a proclamation of vigilance regarding bias and sources is this egregious. I love history from below and socialist history but the titular "People's History" continues to disappoint.

[Cem Yüksel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ortaçağ sonundan başlayıp, mezhep savaşlarına , İngiliz köylü devrimi ve Fransız Ayaklanmasından Hussit isyanına , Paris Komünü ve Anabaptistlerden , Cihan Harbine, ikinci dünya savaşı sonrası bastırılan özgürlük ve hak hareketlerinden , desteklenen baskıcı rejimlere ve SSCB’nin yıkılışına uzanan bir süreçte, ismi bilinen yöneticilerden ziyade halkın tavırlarına bakmaya çalışan bir kitap. Her ne kadar iddia ettiği kadar halkın yaklaşımlarının detayına giremese de , farklı bir çerçeveden baktığı söylenebilir. Bahsettiği zaman aralığının uzunluğu ve olayların çokluğu dikkate alındığında, her şeyi detaylı incelediği söylenemese de , bir akış içinde anlatışı güzel. Bu arada referans kısmı da iyi bir araştırma olduğunu gösterir nitelikte.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up. Part of the disappointment was perhaps that this really is a very basic history, best enjoyed by those with little to no background in European history. The second was that, especially in the beginning, the focus is heavily on revolts, rebellions, and strikes, which reduces 'people's history' to history of events, ignoring more important structural changes. It gets a bit better towards the 20th century, but not much. The critical approach (to bourgeois history writing) is refreshing and solid most of the times. The author is disingenuous only when claiming that it is an established fact that the Nazis themselves burned the Reichstag down in 1933. Unsurprisingly, he presents no references to back his claim.

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was assigned to read this for my favorite class of the semester, europe in the modern era. this book was an utter joy to read every week and i found myself excited to read it whenever i was able to and up for it. this book has encouraged me to want to read more about working class people as well as socialism & communism.

i think this book does a lovely job at explaining majority of the themes but i do find how certain topics such as the enslavement of Black people as well as the Haitian Revolution were not detailed enough in the French perspective.

looking forward to reading more nonfiction!

[sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

i deeply appreciate that this book exists. howard zinn’s work in ‘a people’s history of the united states’ was incredibly impactful for me, and a similar concept applied to other parts of the world is a brilliant idea. unfortunately, this book falls short of the high praises that i could lavish upon zinn. pelz’s writing is well researched and logical, but the prose is prevailingly weak. as much as i appreciate (most of) the content in this book, the writing itself is unpolished at best and downright clumsy at worst.

[samsam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reviews the history of modern Europe by challenging the "official" histories written mostly on the rich and powerful, trying instead to focus on how the history was written by the people and a lot by women. It does have a few errors (like Louis the XVIth being "incompetent", which was written by the bourgeoisie later to discredit him and place on him the blame of the Revolution, or about the founders of the CGT in France), but overall it is a very good and easy read that puts an enormous amount of Europe's history in perspective.

[Fábio · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro é bom enquanto leitura genérica para vislumbrar alguns temas ligados à organização do trabalho. Ênfase no genérico.

Até ao século xix, enumera eventos interessantes de camponeses, mas cai em alguns mitos e conclusões lineares e rebuscadas.

A partir daí, com mais brilhantismo no sec xix até ao período do pós guerra, vão sendo apresentados alguns movimentos de trabalhadores. Porém faltam fontes para algumas das coisas que estão escritas, e por outro lado, a linguagem do livro é por vezes excessivamente adjetivante.

[Nuno Lourenço · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cinco estrelas pelo assunto.

[Thomas Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow managed to sketch out a history of Europe from the 1400s to 2016 in 327 pages? Broad but substantive. It made a lot of implicit socialist arguments, I just wish they were explicit.

[Mark]

A fine companion to its obvious parent, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, marred, unfortunately, by a number of easily avoided lapses in style.

[Maria]

Having read only the chapter about trade unions, I must admit that although it is an overview (and must be taken as one), it is a very informative, well written and coherent one. I would definitely recommend it to someone who has minimum previous knowledge on these matters and want to obtain a more solid image.