Volume 4, Number 4 · March 25, 1965
Snakes in Iceland
By A.J.P. Taylor
One Europe: The Historic Background of European Unity
by René Albrecht-Carrié
Doubleday, 360 pp., $5.95
Decline and Rise of Europe
by John Lukacs
Doubleday, 295 pp., $4.95
Europe is a peninsula at the western end of the land mass which we call the Old World. Its climate is, for the most part, fertile. Over many centuries, various Asiatic tribes wandered into Europe. Finding it agreeable, they settled down. In any case, the Atlantic prevented them from going any further until a few hundred years ago. Large parts of Europe have been civilized (whatever that may mean) for a very long time, though with ups and downs. This civilization has many special characteristics. All Europeans are pinkish in color. Virtually all, except the Jews, profess some form or other of the Christian religion. Urban life predominates. Europeans have been mechanically gifted, at any rate in recent centuries. They have discovered how to grow rich and have now passed on their secrets to the rest of the world.
Review, 2627 words
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