Popular European Historical Books

Find historical books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (178)

81.
Min lengste reise

Min lengste reise by Oksana Zabuzhko NO

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Ukraine flag Ukraine
Description:
Da Russland invaderte Ukraina 24. februar 2022, hadde forfatter Oksana Zabuzjko akkurat ankommet Polen for å promotere sin nyeste bok. Hun hadde pakket den lille reisevesken, for hun skulle bare være borte fra leilighet og ektemann i Kyiv i et par dager. Da ektemannen ringte for å fortelle hva som hadde skjedd, forandret alt seg. Reisen ble brått til et ufrivillig eksil - og nyhetene fra hjemlandet mer grusomme for hver dag. I «Min lengste reise» forteller Zabuzjko nært og gripende om sin egen opplevelse av invasjonen slik hendelsene utfoldet seg utover våren - men også skarpt analytisk om Rus... continue

82.

Montaillou : The Promised Land of Error by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / France flag France
Description:
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie has had a success which few historians experience and which is usually reserved for the winner of the Prix Goncourt...Montaillou, which is the reconstruction of the social life of a medieval village, has been acclaimed by the experts as a masterpiece of ethnographic history and by the public as a sensational revelation of the thoughts, feelings, and activities of the ordinary people of the past.--Times Literary Supplement.

83.

Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Germany flag Germany
Description:
Widely considered one of the great dramatic creations of the modem stage, Mother Courage and Her Children is Bertolt Brecht s most passionate and profound statement against war. Set in the seventeenth century, the play follows Anna Fierling ( Mother Courage ), an itinerant trader, as she pulls her wagon of wares and her children through the blood and carnage of Europe s religious wars. Battered by hardships, brutality, and the degradation and death of her children, she ultimately finds herself alone with the one thing in which she truly believes her ramshackle wagon with its tattered flag and ... continue

84.

Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder by Bertolt Brecht DE

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Germany flag Germany
Description:
Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, eine Chronik aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg. »Was eine Aufführung von Mutter Courage«, schrieb Brecht einmal, »hauptsächlich zeigen soll: Daß die großen Geschäfte in den Kriegen nicht von den kleinen Leuten gemacht werden. Daß der Krieg, der eine Fortführung der Geschäfte mit anderen Mitteln ist, die menschlichen Tugenden tödlich macht, auch für ihre Besitzer. Daß er darum bekämpft werden muß.«

85.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante EN

Rating: 4 (36 votes)
Country: Europe / Italy flag Italy
Description:
Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times–bestselling “enduring masterpiece” about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples (The Atlantic). Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting ... continue


87.

Nana by Émile Zola EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / France flag France
Description:
"Nana is probably the most famous character in Les Rougon-Macquart. The novel that bears her name, published in 1880, is the ninth volume in the series. It consists of a number of episodes, or tableaux, in the short but spectacular life of Ana Coupeau, the fourth child of Gervaise Macquart. We first saw her as a young girl in L'Assommoir (1877), her father an abusive alcoholic, her mother Gervaise reduced to a similar degraded state. She works as a milliner's assistant and dabbles in casual street prostitution. She has a child by an unknown father when she is sixteen. Having escaped from the s... continue

88.

Night by Elie Wiesel EN

Rating: 5 (15 votes)
Country: Europe / Romania flag Romania
Description:
Presents a true account of the author's experiences as a Jewish boy in a Nazi concentration camp.

89.

Nightmare in Berlin by Hans Fallada EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / Germany flag Germany
Description:
Available for the first time in English, here is an unforgettable portrayal by a master novelist of the physical and psychological devastation wrought in the homeland by Hitler’s war. Late April, 1945. The war is over, yet Dr Doll, a loner and ‘moderate pessimist’, lives in constant fear. By night, he is haunted by nightmarish images of the bombsite in which he is trapped — he, and the rest of Germany. More than anything, he wishes to vanquish the demon of collective guilt, but he is unable to right any wrongs, especially in his position as mayor of a small town in north-east Germany that has ... continue

90.

Njal's Saga by Unknown EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Iceland flag Iceland
Description:
Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not-so-villainous Mord Valgardsson. Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal's Saga tells the compelling stor... continue