Questions About Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Eastern European Literature)

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This book is something special and equally problematic. In either case, read it and read it as soon as you can. At the heart of this book, however, is the question of whether or not the 20th century was an utter failure, or simply a technological mess with pockets of triumph and glory. Do you agree or disagree? That is the question...

Henrik Your first sentence absolutely sums up the impression I'm left with after reading. It was an interesting read, for sure, and it strengths lies in its …moreYour first sentence absolutely sums up the impression I'm left with after reading. It was an interesting read, for sure, and it strengths lies in its literary qualities. It is a well written text about the last century, which main argument seems to be that there is no sense in trying to make sense of this history. In that respect, it's kind of an anti-narrative historical storytelling. Since I'm an historian myself, I find this deeply problematic of course.

However, it does display the bizarre, macabre and contradictory moments, events and perspectives of our recent history in a convincing way. The last century certainly was messy at times. As an anti-narrative to the belief that history is a continuous path of progress, it does have a valid point.

However, to reduce 100 years of history to a question of either progress or doom is simply reductionistic. Yes, horrible stuff happened in that period. But if we choose, we can also highlight lots of good developments, in fields like science, education, welfare and general living standards rising to mention just a few. Probably, the bleak outlook of the book can be traced back to its perspective, focusing mainly on wars and conflict, leaving out quite a lot about peaceful developments. In any case, it makes little sense to write history from such a narrow perspective.

So, to answer : I disagree with the way this book poses that question. It's not that simple.

In conclusion: A good and thought-provoking read. As a work of history, however, the book is less convincing.(less)

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