Reddit mentions of Europe: A History

> before the Church plunged Europe into the Dark Ages

If by the "Church" you mean the "collapse of the Western Roman Empire partly due to invasion and raiding" and by "plunged" you mean "precipitated the slow decline of the infrastructure of the society" and by the "Dark Ages" you mean the "Early Middle Ages" then there are plenty of history books, a good overview one is Europe: A History or for a wider view History: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day.

I'm not a historian, but I used to be a history teacher and I think I got a few things right in terms of keeping people interested. A few books I used that are fun and relatively easy:

• The Cartoon History of the Universe is good for kids and grown-ups, although there might be some sections for which there has been much new research.
  
  
• You may also enjoy Guns, Germs, and Steel which gives an interesting theory of history up to about 1535. A book which tackles the same questions from a much more "cultural" (rather than geographical) angle is The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. They're a fun read together.
  
  
• I know the professional historians might disagree, but starting with the broad sweep of European history and working your way outward can be fun. I liked From Dawn to Decadence which is a bit of a luxuriating read and very detailed. Less detailed but also good popular introductions are Norman Davies' Antiquity and Europe books and Norman Cantor's Civilization of the Middle Ages.
  
  
• For a total timeline (big bang to now), Cosmos (the series or the book) is an awesome way to slot human history and science into the whole universe.
  
  
• Also, novels that cover crazy spans of time are great. One I liked was Bridge over the River Drina which helps you understand both Europe and the Ottoman Empire over the course of 400 years. Others can recommend novels in the super-epic (in terms of timespan) genre as well.

Norman Davies' Europe: A History is the best general introduction to European History I've ever read. But "short" it ain't.

I recommend Europe: a History by Norman Davies

He really breaks down the European history in a refreshing manner. Instead of just addressing the great powers, like France, UK, Germany, Spain, etc, he goes in to depth on the lesser known, or at least less written about parts of Europe. Of course, there's plenty of discussion on those powers as well, but it's all put together in a unified tract which in a way makes sense of the calamity that is Europe's shared histories.

I would recommend Europe by Norman Davies
https://www.amazon.com/Europe-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0060974680

My favorite remains 'Europe: A History' by Norman Davies, although it's a bit of a brick. It's well written and comprehensible.

It's pretty beefy, but that's because it starts very early in European history. Specifically reading the periods you're interested in would certainly make it look a little less daunting.

Here's a link to the page on Amazon, so you can see what other folks are saying.

http://www.amazon.com/Europe-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0060974680/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318179129&sr=1-1

I've had Davies since high school and he's never failed me as a jumping off point into different periods and civilizations.



Also, Hansen is quite good at describing Hoplite warfare with an uncanny knack for the soldeir's perspective.

Everitt is great for looking at the fall of the Roman republic from Cicero's perspective. He also has a good book on Pompey but I have yet to read it.

These are the first 3 books I pulled off my shelf next to my desk, there are more but Ancient history is pretty broad (and two of my books arguably are classical rather than ancient), I'm not going to make an exhaustive list though, because well, that would be exhausting.

http://www.amazon.com/Europe-A-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0060974680

Norman Davies is basically the better version of Jared Diamond. He's an actual historian, and does a good job of balancing depth with accessibility.

I really recommend both Europe: A History and The Isles: A History. They are both quite dense tomes, but Davies does a really great job of creating a narrative of the entirety of European/British history (from prehistory to modern times) while challenging our biases and subconscious notions. Instead of a tedious listing of events over 10000 years, he uses narratives and environmental/geographical analysis, interspersed with 'windows' where he goes into several key events in detail.

	

	

	

> # Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing To Fight A War For Their Country
>
>
>
> [Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing To Fight A War For Their Country](http://brilliantmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/fight-for-Europe.png)
>
> _Map created by reddit user Spartharios_The map above shows the percentage of residents in various European countries who are willing to fight and go to war for their country.
>
> Full results below:
>
> From high to low, these are the percentages by country:
>
> - 74% – Finland
> - 73% – Turkey
> - 62% – Ukraine
> - 59% – Russia
> - 58% – Kosovo
> - 55% – Bosnia and Herzegovina
> - 55% – Sweden
> - 54% – Greece
> - 47% – Poland
> - 46% – Serbia
> - 41% – Latvia
> - 39% – Switzerland
> - 38% – Ireland
> - 38% – Macedonia
> - 38% – Romania
> - 37% – Denmark
> - 29% – France
> - 28% – Portugal
> - 27% – United Kingdom
> - 26% – Iceland
> - 25% – Bulgaria
> - 23% – Czech Republic
> - 21% – Austria
> - 21% – Spain
> - 20% – Italy
> - 19% – Belgium
> - 18% – Germany
> - 15% – The Netherlands
>
> The results are from a 2015 WIN/Gallup International global survey. The sample size and methodology was as follows:
>
> > A total of 62,398 persons were interviewed globally. In each country a representative sample of around 1000 men and women was interviewed either face to face (30 countries; n=32258), via telephone (12 countries; n=9784) or online (22 countries; n=20356). Details are attached. The field work was conducted during September 2014 – December 2014. The margin of error for the survey is between 2.14 and 4.45 +3-5% at 95% confidence level.
>
> Europe is the continent with the fewest people willing to fight a war for their country. Globally, an average of 61% of respondents in 64 countries said they would. Morocco (94%), Fiji (94%), Pakistan (89%), Vietnam (89%) and Bangladesh (86%) had the highest percentage willing to fight.
>
> The country with the fewest people willing to go to war was Japan, with just 11% of respondents saying they would fight.
>
> Since World War Two, Europe has been relatively peaceful with major exceptions of the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s and various political suppressions during the Cold War. However, the 19th century was also a relatively peaceful time for Europe that ended with the start of World War I.
>
> For more on European wars and conflict have a look at the following books:
>
> - War in European History
> - The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914
> - Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
> - Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II
> - Europe: A History
>
> Find this map interesting? Please help by sharing it:

• • • • • -
          
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More History:

Europe: A History

Europe: European History

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914

The Iran-Iraq War

Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law

They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide

Postmodernism and academic nonsense:

The Sokal Hoax: The Sham That Shook the Academy

Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture

Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left

More Politics:

A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order

Human Nature/ Evolution:

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

On Human Nature


Clinical Psychology:

Introduction to Clinical Psychology (8th Edition) I'm not trained in psychology but I was told this one was quite good.

Ok, that's enough...


edit: double entry removed + sorting

http://www.amazon.com/Europe-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0060974680/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

I'd start with this: https://www.amazon.com/Europe-History-Norman-Davies/dp/0060974680