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The historical pockets and enclaves of various minorities were largely obliterated by the end of the twentieth century. At a ghastly price, the long-standing ethnic and religious problems were solved.

The movement of millions of non-Europeans and non-Christians into Europe after World War II presented a range of new religious and ethnic problems. The question of whether non-European peoples could embrace a viable European identity and be accepted by the long-resident populations became a central issue.

Despite the horrors of the twentieth century, the charm and beauty of this civilization and the economic productivity and creativity of its people have remained. Europe's beauty, natural and human-made, also deserves recognition, as does the resilience of its people.

The publication histories of many of the volumes discussed in the Further Reading sections have not been covered.

Establishing the exact wording of famous quotations can be a problem in the main text. It is not realistic to look into the issues involved in a concise overview. It is not possible to explore the often arcane aspects of calculating deaths from disease, civilian bombing, or concentration camps in a concise way. The most widely accepted statistics and quotations in these chapters have been checked electronically. They are accompanied by wording that suggests the difficulties of being certain about their validity.

Good writing and clarity are two of the most important qualifications for the books included in the Further Reading section. An effort has been made to include a sampling of important scholarly studies but also a few of the best-selling popular works - at least, those that have received at minimum a qualified recognition from professional historians. The nature of the diverse books mentioned are indicated by the brief comments included in the list.

Historians from other countries who have made major contributions to our understanding of Europe have been more influential than those from any other area.

Many of these books can be considered realistic next steps for readers who want to learn more about the matters covered in each chapter but who are not yet prepared to tackle the more lengthy or demanding scholarly works. Some hefty tomes are included in the selections.

The thousands of books in English on the history of modern Europe must appear inadequate and to some degree arbitrary, unavoidably leaving out many others equal in merit. Some of the most controversial issues are covered in most of the volumes listed in the Further Reading sections.

It's not possible to find a single book that covers everything in each chapter. The books listed in each section are sometimes repeated because of the intricate themes of the chapters. Many of the recommended books are general histories that are more extensive in coverage than this one but still works of synthesis and overview.

They are usually the most readable and distinguished histories of individual nations.

1995) is a model of a scholarly synthesis that is balanced and concise. His chapters on "varieties of history" are useful as guides to further reading in modern French history.

The history of Russia and the Soviet Union is much more extensive than that of Germany. The books by Harvard professor Richard Pipes are very readable and easy to understand, though his perspective on Russian history is more right-wing than that of most of his own students. It is different in its perspectives and conclusions.

Gordon Wright's history of modern France is the only book that is comparable to the history of modern Britain. Modern Britain is covered in many of the works discussed below.

In comparison to the abundance of excellent single volumes covering the years from 1914 to the present, there are few single-volume, highly readable overviews of Europe as a whole in the "long" nineteenth century. There are many single-volume overviews dealing with shorter periods than a century.

Eric Hobsbawm's historical overviews have gone through many printings. From a Marxist perspective, the four volumes cover the 19th and 20th centuries in abundant and lively detail.

The history of women, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and socialism may be added to the history of diplomatic, political, economic, and social history. Mention here must be limited to works dealing with the central questions of modern European history as defined in Part I, and obviously cannot cover every conceivable perspective on that history.

Ideologies are one of the questions.

It is a bit of a challenge and full of penetrating observations.

Two overviews of German history by Sheehan and Craig may be considered sophisticated and ample on the German Question and the Jewish Question.

The biographies of Europe's major figures are part of a literary form that goes back to ancient times. Biographies are bad for some professional historians who are hostile to anything resembling the "great men" approach to history, but the best are anything but narrow or historically unsophisticated accounts of individual lives. Many can be considered attractive introductions to general periods, and will often be mentioned in the Further Reading sections.

It is a gripping tale, filled with colorful detail about the tsarist couple's tragic personal life but still not the kind of book that most modern scholars of Russian history are inclined to write.

The opening essay, "Theory and Practice in Historical Study," introduces the broad lines of recent interpretations. The history of the world but also to a large extent devoted to modern Europe is covered in the bibliographical section.

The study of his tory is affected by the computer age. The articles dealing with historical topics are all works in progress and represent a remarkable collective effort. Most have the merit of being reliable and committed to balanced interpretations. Their style is arid and lacking in analytical penetration.