Popular European Historical Books
Find historical books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (297)
131.
Maus : A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman EN
SwedenDescription:
Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Characterising the Nazis as cats and the Jews as mice, this book recounts, through a complex and sustained allegory the experiences of the author's father in Auschwitz during WWII.
132.
Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker by Elena Rzhevskaya EN
BelarusDescription:
"By the will of fate I came to play a part in not letting Hitler achieve his final goal of disappearing and turning into a myth I managed to prevent Stalins dark and murky ambition from taking root his desire to hide from the world that we had found Hitlers corpse" - Elena Rzhevskaya"A telling reminder of the jealousy and rivalries that split the Allies even in their hour of victory, and foreshadowed the Cold War"- Tom Parfitt, The GuardianOn May 2,1945, Red Army soldiers broke into Hitlers bunker. Rzhevskaya, a young military interpreter, was with them. Almost accidentally the Soviet military... continue
133.
Memoriile unui antisemit by Gregor von Rezzori RO
AustriaDescription:
Clasic al literaturii moderne de limbă germană, Gregor von Rezzori a fost distins cu numeroase premii literare, printre care Theodor-Fontane-Preis, Premio Scanno, Premio Boccaccio, Premio Lorenzo il Magnifico.
Dacă volumul Zăpezile de altădată cuprinde cinci portrete de familie, Memoriile unui antisemit adună, sub un titlu autoironic, cinci episoade-cheie din viața autorului. Mergând din copilărie până la bătrânețe, aceste episoade se petrec în Bucovina românească, de după 1918, la București, în anii ’30, la Viena, în perioada premergătoare și... continue
134.
Mendelssohn is on the Roof by Jiri Weil EN
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
SS Officer Juliyus Schlesinger is ordered to remove the statue of the Jewish composer Mendelssohn from the roof of the Prague Academy of Music before an official concert. Unsure which of the statues is Mendelssohn, he tells his men to remove the one with the biggest nose. Unfortunately, this is the statue of Wagner.
135.
Middlemarch by George Eliot EN
EnglandDescription:
This is an analysis of the life of an English provincial town during the time of social unrest prior to the first Reform Bill of 1832. It is told through the lives of Dorothea Brooke and Dr Tertius Lydgate and includes a host of characters who illuminate the condition of English life in the mid 19th century.
136.
Midnight in Chernobyl : The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham EN
Description:
A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Finalist One of NPR’s Best Books of 2019 Journalist Adam Higginbotham’s definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster—and a powerful investigation into how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the twentieth century’s greatest disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history’s ... continue
137.
Min lengste reise by Oksana Zabuzhko NO
UkraineDescription:
Da Russland invaderte Ukraina 24. februar 2022, hadde forfatter Oksana Zabuzjko akkurat ankommet Polen for å promotere sin nyeste bok. Hun hadde pakket den lille reisevesken, for hun skulle bare være borte fra leilighet og ektemann i Kyiv i et par dager. Da ektemannen ringte for å fortelle hva som hadde skjedd, forandret alt seg. Reisen ble brått til et ufrivillig eksil - og nyhetene fra hjemlandet mer grusomme for hver dag. I «Min lengste reise» forteller Zabuzjko nært og gripende om sin egen opplevelse av invasjonen slik hendelsene utfoldet seg utover våren - men også skarpt analytisk om Rus... continue
138.
Modernity and the Holocaust by Zygmunt Bauman EN
PolandDescription:
"Intellectually rich and provocative.... This is a text which belongs in our classrooms as well as on our shelves. Exceptionally well written."?Contemporary Sociology A new afterword to this edition, "The Duty to Remember--But What?" tackles difficult issues of guilt and innocence on the individual and societal levels. Zygmunt Bauman explores the silences found in debates about the Holocaust, and asks what the historical facts of the Holocaust tell us about the hidden capacities of present-day life. He finds great danger in such phenomena as the seductiveness of martyrdom; going to extremes in... continue
139.
Montaillou : The Promised Land of Error by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie EN
FranceDescription:
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie has had a success which few historians experience and which is usually reserved for the winner of the Prix Goncourt...Montaillou, which is the reconstruction of the social life of a medieval village, has been acclaimed by the experts as a masterpiece of ethnographic history and by the public as a sensational revelation of the thoughts, feelings, and activities of the ordinary people of the past.--Times Literary Supplement.
140.
Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht EN
GermanyDescription:
Widely considered one of the great dramatic creations of the modem stage, Mother Courage and Her Children is Bertolt Brecht s most passionate and profound statement against war. Set in the seventeenth century, the play follows Anna Fierling ( Mother Courage ), an itinerant trader, as she pulls her wagon of wares and her children through the blood and carnage of Europe s religious wars. Battered by hardships, brutality, and the degradation and death of her children, she ultimately finds herself alone with the one thing in which she truly believes her ramshackle wagon with its tattered flag and ... continue