Publishers Weekly
06/19/2023
In this insightful collection of more than 40 essays, Oxford University historian Ash (Free Speech) artfully weaves together geopolitical analysis with reflections on his travels throughout the European continent since 1971. Along the way, he probes the “paradox” of being a contemporary European: the sense of being “at home abroad,” or feeling like one belongs in countries radically different from their own. Ash, a Brit, traces his own trajectory of becoming “a conscious European” from sometime after “the first schoolboy inhalation of Gauloise tobacco smoke” through his work as journalist reporting from behind the Iron Curtain, peppering his account with fascinating snapshots of a 1978 luncheon at the French home of British aristocrats and notorious fascists Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford, a clandestine 1986 meetup with dissident Czech playwright (and later president) Václav Havel, a 1996 dinnertime chat with former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, and more. Throughout, Ash cogently ties these personal experiences and tidbits of European history to the sweeping changes that altered the continent’s political structure during these years: the creation of the European Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Brexit. As the subtitle suggests, this is not a comprehensive history of Europe, but it’s a scintillating one. (May)
From the Publisher
An irresistibly well-written book, fluent, witty, and intelligent.”—Neal Acherson, New York Review of Books“This is not a potted history of the European Union—still less of Britain’s tortuous relationships with it. Instead, the book casts a panoramic eye over a far-flung continent of 850 million people, and heeds the word on the street in Pristina as much as in Paris. . . . [A] fair-minded but warm-hearted book.”—Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times“Told through Garton Ash’s personal reflections and his analyses of shifts in the political organization of the continent, this history explores the question of what it means to be European—if anything at all.”—New York Times Book Review“Tremendously enjoyable. . . . Thoughtful, honest, open, self-deprecating.”—Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday TimesA Financial Times Best Book of 2023“Timothy Garton Ash has combined work in academia, journalism and political analysis for nearly half a century. . . . His new book is 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.”—John Palmer, The Guardian“At once accessible, engaging and erudite, Homelands is an extraordinary accomplishment, much like the author’s life; it is a heartfelt call to arms.”—Times Literary Supplement“Homelands is a trip down memory lane on a continental scale.”—The Economist“From the ‘miracle’ of 1989 to the return of state thuggery, readers could hardly wish for a wiser guide to the continent’s triumphs and travails.”—Financial Times“Garton Ash is a clear-headed chronicler of the Continent [and] Homelands is an engaging read.”—Irish Times“Outstanding. . . . Homelands is an elegantly written piece of contemporary history by one of Britain’s leading public intellectuals.”—Richard Briand, The Spectator“There are historians of Europe who remain detached from the messy realities of the continent’s present. And there are commentators who are immersed in that present but lack the historical knowledge to truly understand it. No figure better unites both disciplines than . . . Timothy Garton Ash. His history of the continent’s ‘overlapping timeframes of postwar and post-Wall’ is rich with originality and memoiristic details.”—Jeremy Cliffe, New Statesman“[A] beautiful new book. . . . Homelands is a synthetic, personal retrospective . . . yet it is far more than a compendium of illustrative vignettes and well-told stories. . . . It provides essential analytical overviews of all the salient events of European unity and division.”—William Collins Donahue, Commonweal“A fluent and authoritative account of Europe since the Second World War, punctuated by vivid personal vignettes . . . from a passionate pro-European.”—Literary Review“An authoritative big picture well matched with revealing, important human details.”—The Tablet“Insightful. . . . Garton Ash’s often compelling homage to a liberated and prosperous Europe is tinged with disquiet and disappointment.”—Kim Bielenberg, The Independent“Homelands is an illuminating and accessible work on a mammoth subject: Europe. . . . A stunning combination of memoir, reportage and history.”—Lucy Popescu, Camden New Journal“Beautifully written and full of perceptive detail and personal observations. . . . In his astute reflections on the arc of European history since the Second World War through to the return of major war in Ukraine in 2022, Garton Ash does not let his aspirations for Europe obscure the enormous challenges it faces today.”—Hanns W. Maull, Survival“Garton Ash cogently ties [his] personal experiences . . . to the sweeping changes that altered the continent’s political structure . . . : the creation of the European Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Brexit. . . . Scintillating.”—Publishers Weekly“Is Europe a real entity or a mere wishful-thinking construct? This closely observed book explores both possibilities.”—Kirkus Reviews“A series of . . . gemlike vignettes.”—Gustav Jönsson, Washington Examiner2024 Lionel Gelber Prize winner, sponsored by the Munk Centre for International Studies“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“Garton Ash deftly combines scholarship, journalistic experience, and personal observations and stories in Homelands. He offers an intellectual’s history with a popular touch that is both delightful and thought-provoking.”—Robert B. Zoellick, author of America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy“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“The right book for Europe, at the right time. For a continent fascinated with its past, and yet indispensable for everyone’s future, this mix of memoir and reflection is the perfect book for the present. In beautiful language, Garton Ash gives us a sense of the Europe that was, and of one that might yet be.”—Timothy Snyder, author of The Road to Unfreedom “A moving love letter to Europe, Homelands merges memoir, political analysis and social criticism to reflect on the future of a continent still haunted by its past. Friend of dissidents in former communist Europe, first-hand witness of high politics in the West, Garton Ash is unafraid to think about what the European project got wrong but also how it can redeem itself.”—Lea Ypi, author of Free “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.”—M. E. Sarotte, author of Not One Inch
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-18
Longtime British journalist, author, and world traveler Garton Ash ponders the meaning of being European.
The author opens with the memory of being an exchange student in a French household at the time of the Apollo landing. “I won’t say that France seemed as far away as the moon,” he writes, “but it was everything the English have traditionally packed into the word ‘foreign.’ ” Indeed, he writes, not so many years ago most Europeans would never have gone to another nation “unless it was to do military service during a war.” The advent of inexpensive travel, mass communication, and postwar prosperity made it more possible to range broadly, reinforcing the sense that the nation-states of old were less meaningful than regional identity. As Garton Ash notes, even in Franco’s last years, Spain was overrun by tourists, one for every Spaniard, reflecting a process by which Germans, Britons, and Italians became European via “a personal, direct experience.” By the late 1980s, when communism was crumbling, many European nations were coming to the realization that monocultural societies were giving way to multicultural societies through the arrival of newcomers—some from places such as the old Soviet Union, some from former African and Caribbean colonies, and some from other prosperous European countries simply seeking a change of scenery. Ironically, Garton Ash notes, this led to increasing ethnic separation at the same time, a process that “would continue, brutally, in what would soon be known as former Yugoslavia.” Now, he writes, the prospect of a united Europe faces what appears to be a quickening disintegration. There’s Brexit, for instance, and then there are the attacks on Hebdo, the arrival of increasing numbers of immigrants fleeing war and hardship in war-ravaged countries, the rise of nationalism and populism—and, of course, the revival of fascism and militarism in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Is Europe a real entity or a mere wishful-thinking construct? This closely observed book explores both possibilities.
