To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949

In the summer of 1914 most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it unhinged the continent's politics and beliefs in a way that took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its survivors, shocked that a civilization that had blandly assumed itself to be a model for the rest of the world had collapsed into a chaotic savagery beyond any comparison. In 1939 Europeans would initiate a second conflict that managed to be even worse - a war in which the killing of civilians was central and which culminated in the Holocaust.

To Hell and Back tells this story with humanity, flair and originality. Kershaw gives a compelling narrative of events, but he also wrestles with the most difficult issues that the events raise - with what it meant for the Europeans who initiated and lived through such fearful times - and what this means for us.

To Hell and Back should be required reading in every chancellery, every editorial cockpit and every place where peevish Euroskeptics do their thinking — Harold Evans The New York Times

Ian Kershaw is the historian that other academic historians most admire … Prof Kershaw sits at the very top of his profession. He is one of a tiny handful of historians whose books will still be read in 100 years. So he takes a big risk by moving out of his area of expertise in order to write an all-encompassing history of Europe in the 20th century. His courage has paid off. To Hell and Back, the first of two volumes on the subject, is a triumph — Laurence Rees The Mail on Sunday

Few authors would have the ability, and perhaps the determination, to take on the history of both world wars and the connecting decades at this level of sophistication, depth and breadth — Robert Tombs The Times