Popular European Historical Books
Find historical books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (297)
101.
If This Is a Woman : Inside Ravensbruck: Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women by Sarah Helm EN
GermanyDescription:
On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 800 women - housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes - were marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded through giant gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards. Their destination was Ravensbruck, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Nazi genocide. For decades the story of Ravensbruck was hidden behind the Iron Curtain and today is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of ... continue
102.
In Defense of Witches : The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet EN
Country: Europe / 
Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
Witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. With arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, this book seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms
103.
In Search of a Name : A Novel by Marjolijn van Heemstra EN
Country: Europe / 
Netherlands
Netherlands
Description:
This spellbinding and intimate novel explores the burden of legacy as a young woman wrestles with discoveries that contradict her great-uncle’s supposed heroism during World War II. D says that a name always fits in the end, that a name is like a leather shoe that forms itself to the foot. But in my mind, it’s the other way around: a person grows into his name. Marjolijn van Heemstra has heard about her great-uncle’s heroism for as long as she can remember. As a resistance fighter, he was the mastermind of a bombing operation that killed a Dutch man who collaborated with the Nazis, and later b... continue
104.
In Search of Amrit Kaur : A Lost Princess and Her Vanished World by Livia Manera Sambuy EN
ItalyDescription:
As she builds her own life anew, an Italian writer embarks on an all-consuming search for the true story of the mysterious princess H. H. Amrit Kaur of Mandi. On a sweltering day in 2007, having just lost her brother to illness, Livia Manera Sambuy finds herself standing before a 1924 photograph of a stunningly elegant Indian princess at a museum in Mumbai. What’s written in the caption will change her life forever. This gorgeous Punjabi princess, it’s said, sold her jewels in occupied Paris to save Jewish lives, only to be arrested by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp, where she di... continue
105.
In the Company of Men by Veronique Tadjo EN
FranceDescription:
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE Harper’s Bazaar: Best Book of the Year Boston Globe: Best Book of the Year Ms. Magazine: Best Feminist Book of the Year Words Without Borders: Best Translated Book of the Year Drawing on real accounts of the Ebola outbreak that devastated West Africa, this poignant, timely fable reflects on both the strength and the fragility of life and humanity’s place in the world. Two boys venture from their village to hunt in a nearby forest, where they shoot down bats with glee, and cook their prey over an open fire. Within a month, they are dead, bodies ravaged... continue
106.
In The Name Of The Father by Immanuel Mifsud EN
MaltaDescription:
At the age of nineteen they handed you a rifle with a bayonet and dressed you up in a uniform ... and somehow, you managed to get your hands on a little, dark brown notebook and a pen. After the funeral, a grieving son starts reading the diary his dead father had kept during the Second World War. As he turns each page, searching for a trace of the man he remembers, a portrait of an individual unfolds; a figure made both strange and familiar through the handwritten observations, the yearnings and the confessions. Immanuel Mifsud tells a moving story of pain, warfare, and the things that connect... continue
107.
In the Shadow of Wolves by Alvydas Šlepikas EN
LithuaniaDescription:
A Times Book of the Year, 2019 THE SECOND WORLD WAR IS OVER. BUT THE WORLD IS FAR FROM SAFE. As victorious Russian troops sweep across East Prussia, a group of desperate children face a new battle. Confronted by critical food shortages and the onset of a bitterly cold winter, these 'wolf children' secretly cross the border into Lithuania in search of work or food to take back to their starving families. In a world still reeling from the devastation of war, the children must risk everything to survive. In the Shadow of Wolves is a story of resilience, devastation and, ultimately, hope. Based on... continue
108.
Inglorious Empire : What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor EN
EnglandDescription:
Inglorious Empire' tells the real story of the British in India from the arrival of the East India Company to the end of the Raj, revealing how Britain's rise was built upon its plunder of India. In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for... continue
109.
Însemnări din timpul ocupaţiei germane : 1916-1918 by Pia Alimăneştianu RO
RomaniaDescription:
„Recitind, după mulţi ani, însemnările Piei Alimăneştianu am resimţit un soi de nostalgie. Aceea a unor timpuri din tinereţea petrecută în sânul familiei Brătianu, nostalgia după reşedinţa familiei de la Florica […]. Nu am cunoscut-o pe autoare, cel de-al optulea copil al lui Ion C. Brătianu şi al Piei Pleşoianu, în schimb, dintre cei pomeniţi de Pia Alimăneştianu îmi amintesc de Sabina Cantacuzino, «Tanti By», de Maria Pillat şi, bineînţeles, de Dinu (Constantin) I.C. Brătianu, care mi-a fost bunic. [...] Însemnările din acest... continue
110.
Întoarcere în Bucureștiul interbelic by Ioana Pârvulescu RO
Description:
In Bucurestiul interbelic oamenii au trait si idealul, si prostia insangerata, au simtit si rafinamentul extrem, si opacitatea grosolana, au avut generosi si ticalosi, echilibrati si fanatici, lucizi si fantasti, buni si rai, bine si rau.
Nu semanau unii cu altii si nimeni nu-i obliga sa gandeasca la fel si sa spuna acelasi lucru.
Minunat este ca lumea lor nu era nici paradis, nici infern ci o lume normala, o lume a tuturor posibilitatilor si un loc sub soare ca oricare altul.
Au avut de toate. Bucurestiul interbelic este locul unde s-a intamplat totul.