The Pursuit of Power: Europe: 1815-1914

Written by Richard J. Evans

Narrated by Napoleon Ryan

Richard J. Evans's gripping narrative ranges across a century of social and national conflicts, from the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 to the unification of both Germany and Italy, from the Russo-Turkish wars to the Balkan upheavals that brought this era of relative peace and growing prosperity to an end. Among the great themes it discusses are the decline of religious belief and the rise of secular science and medicine, the journey of art, music, and literature from Romanticism to Modernism, the replacement of old-regime punishments by the modern prison, and the dramatic struggle of feminists for women's equality and emancipation. Uniting the era's broad-ranging transformations was the pursuit of power in all segments of life, from the banker striving for economic power to the serf seeking to escape the power of his landlord, from the engineer asserting society's power over the environment to the psychiatrist attempting to exert science's power over human nature itself.

The first single-volume history of the century, this comprehensive and sweeping account gives the reader a magnificently human picture of Europe in the age when it dominated the rest of the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Nov 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781681682990

Reviews for The Pursuit of Power

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This hefty tome attempts to chronicle the history of Europe in the 19th century, from the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I. To some degree, this is an impossible task, but the author manages to trace a number of themes across the political, social, and cultural aspect of this period, making this book a valuable touchpoint to understanding this era in European history. When I read historical works like this, I am always reminded of the gaps that can occur by narrowing focusing on one era, country, or person. For example, I was chilled by reading how the policies put into place in Germany's African colonies in the 1890s foreshadowed the atrocities of the Holocaust decades later. Overall, a valuable read for understanding Europe in the 19th century.

[stillatim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Evans chooses the encyclopaedic approach here: an endless number of mini-essays on various topics, with huge information dumps included. That sounds awful, but the genius of this book lies in i) its organization; ii) Evans's prose; iii) Evans's eye for detail.

i) No matter what you're interested in, you can find it in this book, and it will all be in one place, and it will be coherent. He covers the entire continent, the entire history of the continent, and all aspects of that history. Do you want to read all of the parts with equal attention? No. I could care less about the details of battles fought in the German hinterlands, but if I ever need to know about it, by golly do I know where to look.

ii) Pristine, clear and balanced.

iii) He has an astonishing eye for anecdotes and details that help most subjects come to life.

My main criteria for judging history written about periods I'm not knowledgeable in is very simple: does this book make me want to learn more? The answer in this case is, very much yes. Why do I know so little about the Balkans? Why do I know so little about anything?

My only real complaint is that Evans is awful on 'culture'. He has a historian's taste, which means a more or less philistine-level understanding of literature: does this novel provide an anecdote I can use in a lecture? That's no way to judge books.

He does seem slightly better when it comes to music, though.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Covers an enormous subject with relative brevity and wit. The nineteenth century of Europe was a time of tremendous change and yet it is not that different from modern times.

[annbury_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book.The photo of the author, and the fact that he is knighted, suggested to me that he would not have written this book, He begins with the ending of serfdom, and writes about this beautifully. Then he talks about the railroad as a source of modernization and growth. i would not have understood this without a background in finance, which I have. He spends a lot of time on votes, both for men and especially for women, and is great on this as well. He also has a great knowledge of novels, which I do as well. The fact that the French revolution was so extraordinary has a great deal to do with these novels, their characters and the background. No historian can do justice to this area without reading these. This is a great read and book.

[billt568-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An exhaustive dense work that touches on every aspect of European public life in the 19th century. I cannot say it was entirely enjoyable, but my admiration for the scope and ambition of this work is fairly high.

[dlmorrese · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The century between 1815 and 1914 was a period of fundamental change in Europe. It went from acceptance of slavery to a growing acknowledgment of human rights, from subservience of women to calls for female suffrage, from absolute monarchies to constitutional democracies. These changes were relatively sudden and often dramatic if not violent. For me, the appeal of this book isn't in the exhaustive details. I would never be able to remember them all anyway. What underlies all of the names and dates is some insight into human behavior, how people react to conditions that, at least in general ways, tend to recur. This book shows those better than most books of history I've read. I recommend it.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The period roughly covering the nineteenth century in Europe (up to WWI) was the time when Europe pulled away from the rest of the world in wealth, largely by extracting that wealth from the rest of the world through conquest and some trade. Evans covers the history of Britain, France, Germany, and occasional forays into the rest of Europe—including the Russian Empire—with a fashionable transatlantic gloss, noting the ways in which peace on the Continent enabled the European powers to turn outwards and bring war to everyone else.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Pursuit of Power Europe 1815-1914, by Richard J. Evans (read 19 Feb 2017) This is a volume in the Penquin History of Europe and is the third volume in that series I have read, the others being Europe in the High Middle Ages, by William Jordan (read 6 Mar 2004) and To Hell and Back, by Ian Kershaw (read 9 Jun 2016) This book attempts to cover all that happened in Europe from the end of Napoleon to the start of the Great War. Some seems over detailed, other parts barely skim the surface (e.g., the literary events are just touched upon--though Oliver Twist is mentioned at least four times (the index does not show any mention). So some of the reading was not attention-holding but much was exciting. The final pages dealing, with the wars in the Balkans and events there in June 1914 and and the days up to the beginning of the Great War ae well-done and a fitting conclusion to the work. The last sentence, fittingly, quotes Sir Edward Grey's doom-laden famed words about the lamps all over Europe.

[fdhondt_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wide and well written panorama of the 19th century. Incorporates new fashions in historiography, but does not neglect good old political events. Although the part on Belgium could have been a bit more accurate.