Savage Continent : Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

from BruceCoulson

Perhaps the ultimate argument against anarchy is a history of how people behave, what it's really like, when it occurs. This is an excellent look at a forgotten period of history; the first few years post World War II in Europe.

from

Brutal and unrelenting. An extremely hard book to read, where every new page brings to light a new atrocity. The machinations of the world powers post WWII are thoroughly sifted through and show that no one, including those bronzed heroes of yesteryear was on the side of angels. Highly recommended.

from RPGUSTAFSON

Reveals much about the "ethnic cleansing" that occured following WW2 -- not just the Germans but the Poles, Jews, Romanians, Hungarians, Serbs, Croats -- much more than anyone seems to recall 57 years later. Lowe sometimes gets carried away with statistics counting all those affected.

from MarkBeronte

The Second World War might have officially ended in May 1945, but in reality it rumbled on for another ten years... The end of World War II in Europe is remembered as a time when cheering crowds filled the streets, but the reality was quite different. Across Europe, landscapes had been ravaged, e...

from scottapeshot

Just finished Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe, a book which makes you wonder where we, in the U.S., ever got the idea that our relatively peaceful coexistence is the natural state of mankind. Mayhem, contempt, and mass murder has been the soup served to mos...