Out of such stories flows a compelling vision of a fractured, segmented, yet terminally conjoined Europe, where socialized humanity strives on as its leaders continually fail. He is simultaneously a tourist, detective and storyteller: The broad, beautiful boulevards and arterials of Paris or Vienna, for example, were not planned primarily on the basis of aesthetics, he reminds us their purpose was to move an army speedily to any site of riot or rebellion. He brings this continent to life, and asks what role does Europe play now, and how might we face our challenges together, in the spirit of solidarity and connection.An international bestseller, this epic work follows the flow of time through European locales almost as a geologist follows a riverbed.ĭutch journalist Mak ( Amsterdam, 2000, etc.) walks the streets-from Paris, London, Berlin and Rome to Stalingrad, Srebenica and Sarajevo-haunting the libraries and reading rooms, looking into faces that reveal like maps the traces of what has gone by. Like no other, Mak blends history, politics and culture with the stories and experiences of the many Europeans he meets on his travels. The Dream of Europe brings us up to the present day, through the rocky expansion of the EU, the aftermath of 9/11 and terrorist attacks across Europe, the 2008 financial crash and the euro crisis, the tragedy of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, the rise of right-wing populism and Brexit. Mak's monumental book In Europe defined the continent on the verge of a new millennium. In The Dream of Europe, Geert Mak, one of Europe's best-loved commentators, charts the seismic events that have shaped people's lives over the past twenty years. What's happened to Europe's optimism and euphoria? How has it given way to nostalgia, frustration and fear, the fragile European dream in danger of turning into a nightmare?

From the shores of Lampedusa to Putin's Moscow, the continent threatens to tear itself apart. The EU was to set an example: an arena for close cooperation, tackling crucial shared concerns from climate change to organized crime, promoting open borders and social security.īut the first two turbulent decades of this century have been times of rapid and profound change.

The great European project was built out of a common desire for peace, prosperity and freedom a wish for a united Europe striving towards a common goal. How did the great European dream turn sour? And where do we go from here?įrom the author of the internationally acclaimed In Europe, a stunning history of our present, examining the first two decades of this most fragile and fraught new millennium. 'Mak is the history teacher everyone should have had' Financial Times

In Europe by Geert Mak