A Social History of Twentieth-Century Europe

"Over the years I have seen many studies on the social history of twentieth-century Europe, but this one clearly stands out. Bela Tomka's is, to my knowledge, the first serious attempt to fully integrate all the continent's regions, while strongly relying on comparisons. This sophisticated and multifaceted synthesis is a magnum opus which deserves a very wide readership." - Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History, The Netherlands "Bela Tomka has produced a very convincing and impressive social historical synthesis of Europe between World War I and the present. Eastern Europe is not a mere appendix to a basically West European story, but gets its fair share of attention and erudition. The book is written in a highly reflective spirit with much sense for comparative approaches. On the basis of an excellent knowledge of the research literature in several languages, it offers a very readable and fully reliable introduction into the major fields of present-day social history. At the same time it relates to fundamental questions of European modernity, conflicts and identity, in an original way." - Jurgen Kocka, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung, Germany