Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

Tony Judt tracks the reconstruction of Europe from the physical and moral ruins of 1945 through the expansion of the European Union. He argues that the continent’s stability relied on a collective decision to suppress the memory of wartime collaboration and ethnic cleansing. The narrative details the rise of the social democratic welfare state, the hardening of the Iron Curtain, and the distinct social shifts of the 1960s. Judt concludes with the 1989 revolutions, explaining how the fall of the Soviet bloc forced Europeans to re-examine their obscured histories.

This work serves readers interested in the geopolitical shifts and economic policies that shaped the modern West. It provides a clear understanding of how the Cold War influenced domestic legislation and the eventual integration of eastern and western markets. Readers finish the text with a functional map of European integration and a sobering perspective on how historical amnesia allowed the continent to move past the Holocaust and create a unified political identity.