Judt, however, is impervious to religion, unmoved by music and rather complacent about non-French and non-political branches of art and culture.
Britain, including Northern Ireland, is not sidelined Scandinavia emerges in "The Social-Democratic Moment" and there are first-rate sections on the retreat from empire in the 1960s and on the rehabilitation of the Mediterranean countries in the 1970s. He puts France and Germany centre stage, and nicely elucidates the lurches and fumbles by which the European movement has progressed. Regarding western Europe, Judt stands on firm ground. Insecurity is a psychological trait of all nationalisms. And "the insecurity of small-state nationalism" is doubly dubious. Europe has countries of all shapes and sizes. Similarly, the careless use of "small states" smacks of Churchill's imperial division of the world into "giants" and "pygmies". In the Soviet era, for instance, Poland never played "Russia" at football (although a Polish goalkeeper is once said to have been imprisoned for saving a penalty).
"Russia" and "the USSR" should not be used as interchangeables in a book of this quality. The terminology occasionally lacks precision. The 800 pages of the main text do not weigh heavily. I particularly liked Franjo Tudjman being "notoriously ecumenical in his prejudices". The brisk pace is accompanied by fine quotes, lively anecdotes and acerbic phrases. Complicated subjects are tamed by uncomplicated sentences and four or five slim paragraphs fit on to every page. Given 40 years of the iron curtain, the treatment is justified. Yet the majority of chapters deal separately either with the west or the east and the west has the numerical edge. An excellent essay on "The Coming of the Cold War", for example, discusses both western and eastern factors in the growing conflict, before revealing critical links to the Korean war and to France's sponsorship of the nascent European project. Some of the 24 chapters are pan-European. In this connection, the structure of the text deserves comment. The publishers announce a volume that supposedly deals "uniquely" with the whole of Europe. Lord Owen begs a question or two by praising a book about "the true Europe". Naturally enough, the "advance praise" on the cover is over the top. So what? This is history-writing with a human face, as well as with brainpower. His French expertise, his Jewish background, his American mission and, one suspects, a mis-spent political youth can all help to explain particular, and not always felicitous, points of emphasis. By presenting "an avowedly personal interpretation", he accepts that his personal make-up will be reflected in the end product. He dares to expound the sum total of Europe since 1945 in a seamless narrative. With Postwar, however, Judt moves up into the ranks of the grands simplificateurs. He is a principled critic of the Iraq war. He has also involved himself in current international relations, notably in the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East. An authority on modern French intellectual history, he is director of the Remarque Institute in New York, entrusted with the task of explaining Europe to America. Timothy Garton Ash, the mastercraftsman of the genre, has written of "analytical reportage" demanding the highest skills of both historian and journalist.īy these criteria, Tony Judt has splendid qualifications. It deals with incomplete processes and with the uncertain outcomes of recent events. Contemporary history is not an easy option.
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