History caught on the hoof and the wing by those who were actually there - a brilliant selection and guide

A bravura feat in browsability, this captivating, timely and useful book will reward any amount of flipping and dipping ... full of moving, amusing and revealing detail ... What an exemplary reclaiming of Scotland's past, what a necessary and notable contribution to its future

Fascinating and very valuable . . . This book should find a place in every Scottish home

The pace rarely slackens and every page sparkles with insight

In Europe is not so much a work of history, nor is it strictly a travelogue of the present; it is part of a growing genre that is sometimes referred to as the 'history of the present', but might just as well be the 'presence of the past'. It is undoubtedly a spectacular and beautifully crafted piece of such writing

Moving across a vivid historical landscape, his portrait of Europe, in all her bloody barbarism and civilised glory, helps us confront exactly what we need to know....a timely book, and one we can't afford to ignore

This immense book is part masterpiece, part sheer exhaustion. The masterpiece part lies chiefly in its breathtaking invention

Everywhere he goes, Mak is quietly ruthless in unmasking the acts of forgetting, selective amnesia, myth-making and historical obfuscation that persist...Mak is a truly cosmopolitan chronicler of shame and self-deceptions

His genius as a historian is his instinct for human stories... At moments in this monumental work... Mak is the history teacher everyone should have had

How eloquently Mak rails against the alliance of consumerism and bureaucracy! ... He has a great eye for telling detail... Only a powerful, humane and serious mind could give coherence to mass detail which, however arresting piece by piece, would otherwise soon become wearying... as much a journey around Geert Mak's head as it is a journey around Europe

Fascinating