Out on 06 June 2024

This is Europe

Ben Judah

06 June 2024
9781447276296
512 pages

Synopsis

A Times, Financial Times and Telegraph Political Book of the Year
'Illuminates some of the great trends of our time' - Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
'Vivid, urgent and unsettling' - Tom Holland, author of Dominion
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In a series of vivid, empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet some of the people who call Europe their home.

Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home? Who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries and steward our criss-crossing planes? Who lovingly crafts our legacy wines and fishes our depleted waters? And who risks life itself in search of safety and a new start?

Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a frenetic and vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom. Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe.
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'An astonishing achievement' - Evening Standard
'Brilliantly told . . . highly readable' - The Times
'Unflinching' - The Guardian

Thrilling, first-hand tales that explore the danger and ambitions of life in Europe.
If you wish to know what Europe is becoming without us in its club, you'd do well to read Ben Judah's This Is Europe.
Imagine Ballard and Houellebecq teaming up on a Grand Tour, and you will have some idea of just how vivid, urgent and unsettling this superbly written book is.