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 civilisation 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.

About the Author :
Ian Kershaw is Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield and one of the world's leading authorities on Hitler. He was the historical advisor to the highly successful BBC series The Nazis: A Warning from History. He is the author of The Hitler Myth: Image and Reality in the Third Reich; Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich; Bavaria 1933-45; The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation; and Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-1941. He is editor of Weimar: Why Did German Democracy Fail?; and Hitler: A Profile in Power; and co-editor, with Moshe Lewin, of Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison. He was knighted in 2002. Leighton Pugh trained at LAMDA after studying Modern Languages at Queen’s College, Oxford. Radio work includes the plays Murder by the Book and Scenes from Provincial Life for BBC Radio 4 and the voice of Heinrich von Kleist in the BBC Radio 3 documentary The Tragical Adventure of Heinrich von Kleist. Leighton has been in several productions for the National Theatre, including The Lehman Trilogy and has narrated over 250 audiobooks.

Review :
'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.' 'It is true that his subject could hardly be more familiar, but it is a great achievement to cover such vast historical territory in under 600 pages and with such scrupulous balance, care and good sense. Other historians' books on the same period may be flashier or more provocative. But to read Kershaw on Europe's bloody century is to be driven through a ravaged landscape in the sleek, smooth comfort of a Rolls-Royce, guided by a historian who probably knows the territory better than anybody else on the planet.' '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 is a triumph.'