The Making of Europe

by Christopher Henry Dawson

Book Overview

Excerpt from The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity The art of the catacombs is the first outward manifestation of Christian culture, and shows in a remarkable Way how... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452004020
• ISBN13: 9780452004023
• Release Date: January 1956
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Indispensible!

This book has to be the best survey of the beginnings of European, i.e. Western, civilization in the English language. It reveals that European culture has its origins in the confluence of four vital elements: (1) the Roman Empire; (2) the classical, or Hellenistic, tradition; (3) Christianity (more specifically, the Catholic Church); (4) and the barbarians who infiltrated the collapsing Western Roman Empire. Each is treated in detail, and the combination of Dawson's encyclopedic knowledge and eloquent diction has the singular merit of making a vast and complex subject accessible and appealing to the educated reader. To me what makes this book so special is the author's unique capacity to project the reader into the period under discussion without filtering it through the distorted lens of modern mores and attitudes that seem typically to color texts dealing with medieval history. He seems to have an intuitive understanding of what was important to the people of the period, and conveys this to the reader while at the same time he refrains from disparaging the so-called "dark ages" with remarks that emphasize its "primitiveness" by constantly comparing it to contemporary culture. (Aside from technological superiority, I see little basis for superciliousness on our part) Such parochialism of viewpoint is entirely absent from The Making of Europe, and for this, and other compelling reasons, I am sure that the interested and discriminating reader will find that it is, indeed, indispensible.

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!!!

What amazes me most is that this book is probably not even known about in most modern educational circles, yet it should be required reading in every 101 history class in academia. In fact everything Chistopher Dawson writes should be on that list. This book is brilliant on so many levels I couldn't address them all in this space. Christopher himself was one of those extreamly rare individuals who had the ability to truely see the 'forest through the trees' and even better he could write about it for the rest of us to understand. Its one thing to know about a giantic and complex topic and a whole different thing to be able to put it into understandable sentences. The amount of books he read, understood and then tied the thoughts together is itself a staggering feat. The bibliography iteslf list the 100's and 100's of books that when into forming Dawson's mind and then the concepts in this book. As Tiger is to golf Dawson is to history, particularly western cultural history. The other reviewers have done a good job of telling you what the contents of this book are about so read them to get the idea, I second all their thoughts and reviews. What I can add for you is about the author himself. He is from England and grew up in a wealthly and privilaged family of book worms. It is important to understand that he came from wealth for one reason only. He didn't have to waste time like the rest of us toiling away to make ends meet. He understood this yet didn't live the life of a rich playboy. He felt an obligation to his fellow man and dedicated his free time to learning history and then teaching it to the rest of us. He read an wrote for 5 to 10 hours each day. Married young and never divored. His uncle gave him a library full of books where he spent most of his time growing up. He went to all the finest schools and was a professor at Harvard later in his life. All I can say is that this book is well worth the effort of working your way though it. It will give you a deep down spiritual-like experience to know so much more about your roots and where you came from. Enjoy!

Learn your history, or rue the day

A rare book. It is profound, prophetic, insightful, level-headed. Christopher Dawson is one of the few authors whose books are still mandatory reading in university history circles because of the vastness of his knowldege exhibited in his books. Few writers have the ability to say as much so succinctly: reading one chapter gives you almost as much as a book on the same topic written by someone else. We need to remember that if the West saw far, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants. The giants of our past who, step by step, brought disparate tribes, from many races, speaking many languages and coming from different parts of the world, into one cohesive whole known as Europe. We had better find out how our ancestors did it, before we lose it all.

The Making of the West

Catholic University Press of America is coming out with the Works of Christopher Dawson. To my mind, this is one of the most important publishing events in recent memory. In addition, these works are reset and contain solid introductions by experts in the field. This is third in the series (following Progress and Religion; and Medieval Essays). The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity is an important book, which came out in 1932. Dawson highlights the central factors and contributions in the formation of European unity - the Roman Empire, Classical Culture, Christianity, the Barbarians, the Byzantines and Islam. Although Dawson was a Catholic, the book is balanced and can be enjoyed by just about anyone. I liked in particular the fair overview of Islam. It's fashionable to say that history books of the past ignored the contributions of other culture and only contemporary (and leftist) historians rescued us from the evils of "eurocentrism" and "ethnocentrism." This is silly, as anyone who has read history books from the past knows. (In addition, take for example the success of books in the nineteenth century such as Salambo by Flaubert, or the exaggerated claims of Masons of the contributions of Egyptians, which rival the "Black Athena" crowd).In particular, I enjoyed Alexander Murray's introductory essay, which updates some of Dawson's arguments in light of current scholarship and also places this work within his oeuvre.

Great Introduction to the "Dark Ages"

So just what did happen in Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Crusades? This famous overview is just as readable today as when it was first written. Dawson's prose flow effortlessly and will keep you engaged. He covers everything from Baghdad to Iceland.He has the decidedly un-Marxist view that ideas and individuals do count in history. His pan-European sympathies probably sounded unrealistic in the '30's, but are back in vogue as we approach the introduction of the Euro coins.