"The book's true originality lies in its all-inclusive scope and erudition, and literary panache with which the story of Europe is told." -- Time (Atlantic edition)

"Davies's copious unfolding of the entire course of European history exhausts the subject but certainly not the reader, for he maintains a remarkable fluidity throughout." -- Booklist (starred review)

"At last, a truly pan-European history that rests firmly on solid scholarship and exhibits wisdom and literary elegance; highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"A magisterial work, sweeping in its analysis, illuminating in its insights, and erudite in its scholarship." -- Zbigniew Brzezinski

"Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance." -- New York Review of Books