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This is Europe

The Way We Live Now
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( 541 ratings, 77 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
This is Europe explores the meaning of European identity in a continent of 750 million people, stretching from Ireland to Ukraine and from Sweden to Turkey. Author Ben Judah presents vivid, empathetic portraits of individuals who shape Europe’s cultural and social fabricβ€”from long-distance lorry drivers and airline stewards to vintners and refugees seeking safety. These stories, based on extensive interviews, reveal a diverse Europe transformed by migration, climate change, the internet, pandemics, war, and the quest for freedom. Judah’s book lays bare a Europe that may be unfamiliar but is undeniably vibrant and alive.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book will appeal to readers interested in contemporary Europe, cultural diversity, human stories of migration and survival, and those who appreciate immersive reportage blending journalism with literary narrative.

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A portrait of Europe as you've never before seen it, told through twenty extraordinary stories of the people who live and breathe it.

A vivid portrait of Europe as you've never seen it before, told through the extraordinary stories of the people who live and breathe it.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

What does it now mean to call yourself European? Who makes up this population of 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home, and who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries, steward our criss-crossing planes, lovingly craft our legacy wines, fish our depleted waters, and risk life itself in search of safety and a new start?

In a series of vivid, ambitious, darkly visceral but always empathetic portraits of other people's lives, Ben Judah invites us to meet them. 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.


Praise for Ben Judah's This Is London:

'An epic work of reportage' - Guardian

'Eye-opening' - Sunday Times

'Opens readers' eyes to the hardships experienced by many and ignored by most' - Independent

'Shares Orwell's appetite for documenting parts of society that are easily overlooked' - Spectator

'Full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others' - Financial Times

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised as vivid, urgent and unsettling by Tom Holland, this book offers a moving, poignant and compelling kaleidoscope of human experience (Jenny Kleeman). Sophy Roberts highlights Judah’s deep empathy and unique literary reportage style, offering stories that evoke laughter, tears, and fascination. Andrey Kurkov lauds Judah’s ability to paint a Europe with intense and dramatic detail, one readers will seek every day after reading.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781447276289

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 June 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 45.0mm

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 612g

Pages: 512

About the Author

Ben Judah is an author and journalist. He has reported from across Europe with his writing on politics and society featuring widely, including in The Sunday Times, The Financial Times and Foreign Policy. His first book, Fragile Empire, was published by Yale UniΒ­ versity Press in 2013. His second book, This is London, published by Picador, was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2016 and for the 2019 Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage.

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