I'm starting to read the books in the box that just came. One of the first I turned to was A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century, by Richard Vinen. I started there because the cover picture is the searing image of the sculpture of dancing children on the fountain near the train station against the wreckage of Stalingrad after the siege and battle there in 1942-43. The image is well-chosen to fit in with the idea of a history in fragments, as well as being the signature image from the Battle of Stalingrad itself.
(For those who would like a brief but highly accurate introduction to the Battle of Stalingrad, I strongly urge you to watch the excellent film Enemy at the Gates, by French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, with Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins and Ed Harris taking the leading roles. The film centers on the (historical) sniper duel during that battle between the Russian Vassili Zaitsev and his German opposite number played by Ed Harris. However, the drama is played out against a depiction of the siege and battle itself, with an extensive reconstruction of the battle-ruined Stalingrad that, according to some of the special effects people who worked on both films, was more extensive in scope than that required in the film Titanic.)
Richard Vinen's book looks at many aspects of 20th C. European history, besides wars and military campaigns, but those wars and campaigns, like the often-invoked elephant in the living room, cannot be ignored. What I have read so far of the book indicates that the book examines many factors, including culture, religion, sex, and demographics, to give context and background to the politics and wars.
Vinen pulls off the rarely-accomplished feat of narrating and explaining clearly the history that emerges from the many facts, figures, trends, and observations of the extensive historical materials he deals with. The book contains extensive notes and bibliographic references, and a well-constructed, detailed index, which are always available but never in the way.
Vinen, Richard. A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century (DaCapo:2002) 628 p., maps, photos. ISBN: 0 306 81063 8.
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