A Personal History of Europe

Homelands

A Personal History of Europe - Updated with a New Chapter

**Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize 2024** 
**A Financial Times Best Book of 2023** 
 
'A moving love letter to Europe' Lea Ypi, author of Free 
 
Drawing from the people who lived it, Homelands explores how Europe slowly recovered and rebuilt from World War Two. And then faltered. 
 
Timothy Garton Ash, our greatest writer about Europe, has spent a lifetime studying Europe and this deeply felt book is full of vivid experiences: from his father's memories of D-Day and his own surveillance at the hands of the Stasi to interviewing Albanian guerrillas in the mountains of Kosovo and angry teenagers in the poorest quarters of Paris, as well as advising prime ministers, chancellors and presidents. 
 
Homelands is at once a living, breathing history of a period of unprecedented progress, a clear-eyed account of how so much then went wrong and an urgent call to the citizens of this great old continent to understand and defend what we have collectively achieved. 
 
'The right book for Europe, at the right time' Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny 
 
'Tremendously enjoyable ... thoughtful, honest, open, self-deprecating' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 
 
'Readers could hardly wish for a wiser guide ... defiantly hopeful' Financial Times

A panoramic contemporary history of Europe, in which sharp political analysis is enlivened with personal memoir - drawn from decades of distinguished work as a journalist and academic

Readers could hardly wish for a wiser guide. Over 40 years, Garton Ash has both watched from the stands and played on the pitch in the arena of European change

Outstanding ... Homelands is an elegantly written piece of contemporary history by one of Britain's leading public intellectuals

At once accessible, engaging and erudite, Homelands is an extraordinary accomplishment, much like the author's life; it is a heartfelt call to arms

Personal memories matter in Europe, where the remembrance of recent horrors has shaped modern politics ... Homelands is a trip down memory lane on a continental scale ... insightful [and] downright chilling, too

We know there are Germans, Italians, Spaniards and Poles - but are there Europeans? Yes, at least one: Timothy Garton Ash. Homelands is the brilliant, captivating story of how he became one.

Mark Lilla, author of The Once and Future Liberal

This book, from a man who had a front-row seat to much of the history he describes, draws on his experiences and those of his friends to bring events to vivid life

Garton Ash deftly combines scholarship, journalistic experience, and personal observations and stories in Homelands ... delightful and thought-provoking

Robert B. Zoellick, author of America in the World

Garton Ash has carved out a unique niche as a 'historian of the present.' Homelands combines his eye-witness account of Europe's evolution with his keen historical insight to offer an innovative and compelling book

Charles A. Kupchan, author of Isolationism

Rich with originality and memoiristic detail

A fluent and authoritative account of Europe since the Second World War

An insightful analysis of the transformation of central and eastern Europe in the decades between the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Garton Ash is a clear-headed chronicler of the Continent [and] Homelands is an engaging read

An authoritative big picture well matched with revealing, important human details

Timothy Garton Ash tells the epic story of ... [postwar] Europe

Excellent ... Read as a letter, such gemlike vignettes can be treasured. Because in them, Garton Ash has captured something of what it means to be European. Though he is proudly in love with Europe, he is not blind to its faults

Part memoir, part history and is fascinating, rich in anecdote, and at times intensely moving

A panoramic contemporary history of Europe, in which sharp political analysis is enlivened with personal memoir — drawn from decades of distinguished work as a journalist and academic

'A moving love letter to Europe' Lea Ypi, author of Free 
 
Homelands is a stunning blend of contemporary history, reporting and memoir by our greatest writer about Europe. 
 
Drawing on half a century of travel and thinking, Homelands tells the story of Europe since its emergence from wartime hell in 1945: how it slowly recovered and rebuilt, liberated and united to come close to the ideal of a Europe 'whole, free and at peace'. And then faltered. 
 
Timothy Garton Ash has spent a lifetime studying Europe. Highly personal and deeply felt, this book is also full of vivid experiences, encounters and anecdotes: from his father's memories of D-Day to interviewing Polish dockers, Albanian guerrillas in the mountains of Kosovo, and angry teenagers in the poorest quarters of Paris, as well as advising prime ministers, chancellors and presidents in the UK, Europe and the US. 
 
Homelands is both a living, breathing history of a period of unprecedented progress and a clear-eyed account of how so much then went wrong, from the financial crisis of 2008 to the war in Ukraine. At its heart, this book is an urgent call to the citizens of this great old continent to understand and defend what we have collectively achieved.

Free World

TGA holds up a mirror to Britain today to show us what the British have become as a globalized society.

At the start of the 21st century, the world plunged into crisis. What began as an attack on the West by Osama bin Laden soon became a dramatic confrontation between Europe and America. Britain has found itself painfully split, because it stands with one foot across the Atlantic and the other across the Channel. The English, in particular, are hopelessly divided between a Right that argues our place is with America, not Europe, and a Left that claims the opposite. This is today's English civil war. Both sides tell us we must choose. In this powerful new work Timothy Garton Ash, one of our leading political writers, explains why we cannot, need not and must not choose between Europe and America.

Timothy Garton Ash

A lifetime of learning condensed into 150 pages - full of fascinating nuggets and insights, and very enjoyable

The Shortest Introduction to the World's Oldest and Newest Continent

As the old world order crumbles, it has never been more important to understand the rich and fascinating story of Europe – the smallest and largest, oldest and newest continent. But what is Europe? 
 
Drawing on a lifetime of study, travel and writing about Europe, Timothy Garton Ash tells its epic story in 160 pages fizzing with anecdote and expertise. 
 
Europe is vast – its coastline is longer than the circumference of the Earth – and intricate: you can have breakfast in Germany, coffee in the Netherlands and lunch in Belgium. It invented democracy but has fought nearly 3,000 recorded wars in the last millennium. And its past is present everywhere: the borders of vanished empires still show up in election results. 
 
Brilliantly accessible yet profound, Europe in 7 ½ Chapters is an exhilarating journey through geography, history and culture – from wars and revolutions to food and football – which shows how Europe came to be as it is today: more united and more divided than ever. Can it still flourish in this dangerous new world and even shape it for the better? 
 
Whether you're looking for an introduction to the continent’s breathtaking past or the perfect holiday read, you should have Europe in 7½ Chapters in your pocket – it is witty, surprising and always entertaining.

Timothy Garton Ash

Praise for Europe in 7 1/2 Chapters

A lifetime of learning condensed into 150 pages - full of fascinating nuggets and insights, and very enjoyable

Books by Timothy Garton Ash

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