From Keith Lowe, author of the criticall acclaimed "Inferno" comes an 'extraordinary, disturbing and powerful' ("Daily Mail") new history, "Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II". The Second World War left Europe in chaos. Landscapes had been ravaged, entire cities razed and more than 35 million people killed. Across most of the continent, the institutions that we now take for granted - such as the police, the media, transport, local and national government - were either entirely absent or hopelessly compromised. Crime rates soared, economies collapsed, and the European population hovered on the brink of starvation. In this groundbreaking study of the years that followed the war, Keith Lowe describes a continent still racked by violence, where large sections of the population had yet to accept that the war was over. He outlines the warped morality and the insatiable urge for vengeance that were the legacy of the conflict. Based on original documents, interviews and scholarly literature in eight different languages, "Savage Continent" is a window on the brief, chaotic period between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War.
"Deeply harrowing, distinctly troubling. Moving, measured and provocative. A compelling and plausible picture of a continent physically and morally brutalized by slaughter". (Dominic Sandbrook, "Sunday Times"). "Excellent". ("Independent"). "Unbearable but essential. A serious account of things we never knew and our fathers would rather forget. Lowe's transparent prose makes it difficult to look away from a whole catalogue of horrors...you won't sleep afterwards. Such good history it keeps all the questions boiling in your mind". ("Scotsman"). Keith Lowe is widely recognized as an authority on the Second World War, and has often spoken on TV and radio, both in Britain and the United States. He is the author of the critically acclaimed "Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg", 1943 (Penguin). He lives in north London with his wife and two children.
Industry Reviews
Grimly absorbing, conveys the pity of war and its sorry aftermath with integrity and proper sympathy -- Ian Thomson * Sunday Telegraph *
Moving, measured and provocative -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *
Extraordinary...exceptional...reveals a continent where moral values were often missing and basically lawlessness prevailed for several years -- Trevor James * The Historian *
Savage Continent is a powerful and disturbing book, painstakingly researched and written with both authority and an impressive historical sweep -- James Holland
A major new historical talent has arrived... a brilliantly organised and scrupulously objective survey of a continent on the floor * BBC History Magazine *
An excellent account...Lowe's vivid descriptions of Europeans scrambling for scraps of food, rampant theft and 'destruction of morals' are a timely reminder that a certain humility is in order when we look at less fortunate continents today. -- Brendan Simms * The Independent *
Impressive and heart-rendering study...Lowe marshals all the elements of the story with cool even-handedness, especially where statistics are concerned, and explains how subsequent generations have manipulated the historical record to suit their own purposes, either to diminish their guilt or demonise others. -- Christopher Silvester * Daily Express *
Extraordinary, disturbing and powerful ... it is to Lowe's great credit that he resists the temptation to sit in moral judgment ... it is time we acknowledged the hidden realities of perhaps the darkest chapter in all human history * Daily Mail *
Graphic and chilling. This excellent book paints a little-known and frightening picture of a continent in the embrace of lawlessness and chaos -- Ian Kershaw
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