The dream of Europe : travels in the twenty-first century / Geert Mak ; translated from the Dutch by Liz Waters.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Mak, Geert, author.

Contributor:

• Waters, Liz, translator.
• Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Standardized Title:

• Grote verwachtingen. English.

Language:

• Dutch
• English

Subjects (All):

• Mak, Geert--Travel--Europe.
• Mak, Geert.
• European Union.
• Social conditions.
• History.
• Travel.
• Europe--History--21st century.
• Europe--Politics and government--21st century.
• Europe.
• Politics and government.
• Europe--Social conditions--21st century.
• Europe--Description and travel.

Genre:

• History.
• Translations.

Physical Description:

578 pages : maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Harvill Secker, 2021.

Language Note:

Translated from the Dutch.

Summary:

"In 1999, Geert Mak spent a year criss-crossing Europe, looking to define the continent on the verge of a new millennium. The result was his monumental book In Europe. Great Expectations focuses on the first two turbulent decades of our current century, taking in the rocky EU expansion into eastern Europe and the rise of Putin; the aftermath of 9/11 and terrorist attacks across Europe; the migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean; the 2008 financial crash; the rise of right-wing populism, and of course, Brexit. Mak sketches the climate and mood at the turn of the century, the optimism that reigned but vanished along the way in the great European project. Above all, Mak is an observer, endlessly curious to learn how seismic political and cultural shifts effect people's lives. The book opens describing life in the tiny Norwegian polar city of Kirkenes - 'the hub of the European periphery, a laboratory for the future' - a geopolitical pressure cooker of a place with 3,500 inhabitants 5km away from the Russian border. The local restaurant serves up reindeer-and-mushroom pasta, Russian subs lurk around the undersea cables, the locals complain about the NATO surveillance ship in the harbour scrambling their phones, and the melting polar ice attracts Chinese investors and other major players for the future Arctic maritime trading route, which promises to half the travel time of the Suez Canal. Mak traces our current times through stories like these- you come away fascinated by the place, perhaps the most important Norwegian trading town you've never heard of, with a sense of global understanding news feeds can't always offer"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

• The sky's the limit: 1999
• Peace: 2000
• Aydin
• Fear: 2001
• Greatness: 2004
• Numbers: 2004
• No, Non: 2005
• Steven
• Brothers: 2008
• Anna
• Truth: 2010
• Kostas and Efi
• Solidarity: 2012
• Old ghosts: 2014
• Umayya
• Intermezzo
• The promised land: 2015
• Wigan: 2016
• Alone: 2017
• Bart
• Great expectations: 2018-2021.

Notes:

• First published with the title Grote verwachtingen: in Europa 1999-2019 in the Netherlands by Uitgeverij Atlas Contact in 2019.
• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

• 9781787302440
• 178730244X
• 9781787302433
• 1787302431

OCLC:

1281601317

Online:

The Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund Home Page