Europa

by Julio MacLennan

Overview

European history is deeply embedded in the global civilization that has emerged in the twenty-first century. More than two thirds of today’s nations were once European colonies or protectorates. Europe’s legacy is evident in the trajectory of the United States and has influenced aspiring hegemonic powers like China. For centuries, Europe was the heart and soul of the West, and European powers enjoyed unprecedented global hegemony, not only by military and economic means, but also through their influence on politics and culture. The rise and fall of the European era of world supremacy constitutes one of the most epic histories of all time. Europa reveals the origins of Europe’s rapid expansion, which was then expanded upon further by millions of Europeans migrants, who spread their culture and values. MacLennan also reveals how statesmen, scientists, inventors, philosophers, writers, and revolutionaries were responsible for transforming the continent into a civilization that inspired universal attraction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643132440
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	12/10/2019
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,047,250
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Julio Crespo MacLennan is a Senior Fellow at the Cañada Blanch Centre in the London School of Economics. He has a D. Phil in History from the University of Oxford and has been Santander Iberian and European Studies Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford and Prince of Asturias Visiting Professor at Tufts University, among other academic and diplomatic posts. He has written five books, including Europa (available from Pegasus) and has lectured in over twenty countries and diverse international forums.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Europa from Myth to Reality: How Renaissance Europe Gave Birth to an Expanding Civilization 1

Chapter 2 As Far as It Is Possible for a Man to Go: How Geographic Discoveries Laid the Foundations of European Hegemony 23

Chapter 3 The World Is Not Enough: The Rise of the Great European Empires 48

Chapter 4 Revolution Versus Empire: The Impact of the Era of Revolutions on European Empires and the Western World 94

Chapter 5 Eastern Dreams of Grandeur: How China, India, and the Rest of Asia Were Shaped by European Expansion 135

Chapter 6 In Search of a Better World: How European Culture and Values Were Propagated by the Great Migratory Waves 173

Chapter 7 The Power and the Glory: The Golden Era of European Hegemony 208

Chapter 8 The First and Last Great Frontier of Civilization: The Scramble for Africa on Behalf of Civilization, Christianity, and Imperial Interests 260

Chapter 9 The Wars that Shook the World: How the Two World Wars Precipitated a New Post-European Era 294

Chapter 10 Goodbye to All That: The Global Influence of European Intellectual Migration and Exile 331

Chapter 11 Experiences with the Truth: How the Legacy of Imperial Europe Shaped the Postcolonial World 359

Chapter 12 The European Dream: How Europe Transformed itself into a Union that Exerts Universal Attraction 403

Conclusion: The Pillars of a Global Civilization 437

Bibliography 449

Acknowledgments 457

Index 459

Editorial Reviews

An epic narrative exceptional in interpretive breadth. Beginning with the Renaissance, readers contemplate the planet-transforming influence of Europe’s unprecedented curiosity and ambition, manifested in innovations in art, science, philosophy, and governance, exported through trade and colonization. Even readers resistant to MacLennan’s Eurocentric perspective will learn much here about a singularly dynamic continent.

Booklist (starred)

05/14/2018
MacLennan, director of the Cervantes Institute in London and a history professor at Oxford and Tufts universities, has written less a brief history of Europe than a study of the continent’s outsized political, socioeconomic, and intellectual influence on the rest of the world. Thus, for example, the events of the revolutions of 1848 are skimmed over; MacLennan is more interested in, and writes well about, the ideological changes they brought to Europe’s governments: “equality of men as a human rights principle” and that “government must be an expression of the people’s will.” MacLennan’s book is chock-full of interesting facts and observations—who knew, for example, that the Philippines was perhaps the first country to abolish slavery, in 1574?—yet is a bit dry, lacking colorful quotes and anecdotes. He favors western European history; the Hapsburg Empire, Poland, and Russia are somewhat neglected, except in a fascinating section on the Russian empire’s growth. In trying to cover so much, MacLennan glosses over some important matters, as when he dispatches existentialism, post-WWII critics of Marxism, and the antinuclear movement in a single paragraph. He also makes some glaring mistakes (George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” was an essay, not a novel), and his assertion that the E.U.’s “model of supranational political and economic integration... will have universal appeal” is questionable in light of, for example, Brexit. This is an idiosyncratic but fascinating look at role Europe plays on the world stage. Agent: Charlie Viney, Viney Shaw Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Masterful. This book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of both World and American historians. Do not miss it.

Carolina Chronicles Magazine

In this salutary book, Julio Crespo MacLennan restores an endangered species of truth: Europe’s influence in the last half-millennium has made our world what it is—still as richly diverse as ever, but rippled with genes, ideas, institutions, practices, biota, and material culture that Europeans spread across oceans and continents. The author does not conceal the evils that accompanied exchange, but the balance appears more constructive than destructive, more life-enhancing than life-destroying. Europe—if Europeans can overcome their abiding nationalisms and self-interest—can still be good for the rest of the world.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

Julio Crespo MacLennan's wide-ranging and deeply learned examination of the origins and contemporary importance of Europe in world history makes a valuable vademecum for the post-Brexit world. This book helps restore an accurate narrative of Europe's contribution to the modern world at a time when its recent history is being distorted for political ends.

Paul Preston

2018-05-06
How European culture has shaped the world for the past 500 years.MacLennan (Spain and the Process of European Integration, 1957-85, 2001, etc.), the director of the Cervantes Institute in London, worries that the European Union is being unfairly attacked and European unification eroded by revivals of nationalism. To counter those forces, he offers a sweeping history from the 16th century to the present, making a compelling case for European influence throughout the world. Aimed at readers who may wonder, "what has Europe done for us?" the author surveys Europe's achievements, synthesizing histories of different nations as well as overviews by historians such as Norman Davies, Niall Ferguson, and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. The Renaissance, writes MacLennan, introduced decisive changes in what was "a relatively backward, inward-looking civilization." "The market economy, the state, and the knowledge-based society" propelled Europe "to take the lead over all other civilizations." Exploration was spurred by improved sailing technology and daring adventurers. With Columbus' discovery of America, Spain transformed itself into a global empire, with Portugal, France, and Britain following in overseas expansion, establishment of trade networks, and economic development between Europe and the rest of the world. The age of empire was also the age of economic, social, and political revolutions. The French Revolution, MacLennan asserts, proved transformative for the Western world by promoting equality rather than "a closed elite that monopolized power" and wealth. As European nations extended into Asia, the clash between East and West resulted in cohabitation in India, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia; Westernization of Japan; but resistance by the Chinese, who increasingly looked inward. MacLennan traces the influence of European culture through immigration, colonialism in Africa, and intellectual migration and exile after the world wars. He contrasts the American dream of individual accumulation of wealth with the European dream of a socially and economically harmonious society, underscored by the idea of soft power, "the ability to shape the behavior of others through appeal and attraction." A well-supported, wide-ranging history of the Western world.

Kirkus Reviews