Savage Continent

Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

By: Keith Lowe

Narrated by: John Lee

The Second World War might have officially ended in May 1945, but in reality it rumbled on for another 10 years....

The end of the Second World War in Europe is one of the 20th century's most iconic moments. It is fondly remembered as a time when cheering crowds filled the streets, danced, drank and made love until the small hours. These images of victory and celebration are so strong in our minds that the period of anarchy and civil war that followed has been forgotten.

Across Europe, landscapes had been ravaged, entire cities razed and more than thirty million people had been killed in the war. The institutions that we now take for granted-such as the police, the media, transport, local and national government-were either entirely absent or hopelessly compromised. Crime rates were soaring, economies collapsing, and the European population was hovering on the brink of starvation.

In Savage Continent, Keith Lowe describes a continent still racked by violence, where large sections of the population had yet to accept that the war was over. Individuals, communities and sometimes whole nations sought vengeance for the wrongs that had been done to them during the war. Germans and collaborators everywhere were rounded up, tormented and summarily executed. Concentration camps were reopened and filled with new victims who were tortured and starved. Violent anti-Semitism was reborn, sparking murders and new pogroms across Europe. Massacres were an integral part of the chaos and in some places-particularly Greece, Yugoslavia and Poland, as well as parts of Italy and France - they led to brutal civil wars. In some of the greatest acts of ethnic cleansing the world has ever seen, tens of millions were expelled from their ancestral homelands, often with the implicit blessing of the Allied authorities.

Savage Continent is the story of post WWII Europe, in all its ugly detail, from the end of the war right up until the establishment of an uneasy stability across Europe toward the end of the 1940s. Based principally on primary sources from a dozen countries, Savage Continent is a frightening and thrilling chronicle of a world gone mad, the standard history of post WWII Europe for years to come.

©2012 Keith Lowe (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Authoritative but never dry, stripping away soothing myths of national unity and victimhood, this is a painful but necessary historical task superbly done." ( Kirkus)

Powerful story, painful narration

What made the experience of listening to Savage Continent the most enjoyable?

The story is thorough, well researched and comprehensive. The sheer amount of new information was well worth the listen.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narration was painful. Every accent sounded like a caricature of Count Dracula. There was so much accent switching that after a while, what was meant to be helpful in distinguishing the locations/nationalities being discussed turned into moments of dread for me. Overall, I would say that audiobook producers should look very closely at the necessity for performing accents - rarely have I found them to be helpful or desired.

Part of the war we always forget

Where does Savage Continent rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Instructrive about how a large war end. Most of us that did not participate to the event remember only the glorious parade.

Well researched book on post war Europe

This is a very insightful book related to the causes and effects in the formation of post World War II Europe. Well researched and narrated,encompassing all major and minor players involved in the formation of post war Europe and the subsequent Cold War between former Allies.One criticism of this excellent book,is that the narration of speeches or quotations from Eastern Europeans sound like Boris Karloff,Americans like John Wayne and Germans like something out of a Hollywood war movie. Other than this minor flaw,I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in mid 20th Century history.

Excellent

An important story well told that takes us beyond popular myth to the harsh truth about human behaviour. Informed, we are less vulnerable.

Externally Informative - Not for Casual Historians

Most people forget that wars don't just have an end when the fighting stops. Just like the Antebellum south the consequences are far reaching. Although i have gone through the equally good "Post War" it has not opened my i eyes to the actual depth of suffering and chaos from the years of 1945 to after the death of Stalin like this book. It is trully a miracle that Europe has recovered after the World War's. Although the current tension in the Ukraine and the ongoing tension in the Balkans does show the shallowness of the peace. The amount of death and suffering is shocking.

Also the fact that Nazi Concentration / Death camps really just changed hands and were back at work killing Germans and Ukrainians and other suspect nationaltes etc, is crucial to understand the shades of grey within human morality and how hatred build hatred and vengance builds vengance. The concept of the "Last Great War" painted by some historians is out right insulting to the population of Europe.

This book has also give great insight to my own family history since one of my grandparent 4 years in POW camps (Luckly american) and Displace Person camps untll returning home in 1949. As i child i knew this happened but not what it meant. Also the climate they had to live with a Volks-Deutch / Croatian family for 20 years seems frankly unbearable. So no ever talked about it.

However this book is in-depth so its not an easy listen for some casual historian might want to start with "Post War" which covers a larger period but in less detail or "The Iron Curtain" the performance is dry but i like the narrator's work its just not possible to spice this one up.

I also recommend listening to "Bloodlands" before to build the context of German, Ukraninan, Polish and Russian race relations (eg multi dimensional genocide) that did not stop for a long time after the war.

This will give you the full context to understand the situation in the Ukraine today.

Important but difficult

Very informative. My husband who is a WWII buff learned a lot throughout this book. It is a period not often written about or discussed. The reader was easy to listen to. This book was very hard to get through because of the brutality of the period. We had to stop Many times to take a break.

Information I was ignorant of. Shocking but a lesson in the depths humans can fall to .

Filled a gap in my knowledge that I did not realize was there. Almost too many examples but if research is accurate, an invaluable account of the aftermath of WWII

relativity

What did you love best about Savage Continent?

i have never read a history book that has managed so successfully to keep pulling the rug from under me. Evert time i thought i understood and sympathized with a country/a cause i would be shown things from another perspective. This is how history should be taught.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Savage Continent?

you won't forget this book in a hurry

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

its fine - a little over enunciated for my liking

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

the whole book is moving, appalling ( i needed breaks) and even handed as far as i can tell. it is a fearsome examination of cycles of revenge that genuinely teaches something profound, rather than revel in apocalyptic pornagraphic imagery.

Any additional comments?

a profound study that opened my eyes to, among other things, the cold war.

Good book. Shoot the narrator.

This is an important book that describes in painful detail the economic and cultural devastation as well as the political turmoil that beset most of Europe after the Second World War. Redrawing of boundaries, revenge, ethnic cleansing…all contributed to atrocities committed on and sometimes by civilians (some whom had been victims of the war).....The author stresses the importance of unearthing the facts, which are often at odds the "hero" or "victim" mythologies of the war and its aftermath nurtured by different sides to incite hatred or to foster national pride...

Unfortunately, John Lee, the narrator of this book, like some fellow narrators of nonfiction books, inexplicably feels a need to put on accents for all of the direct quotes of "foreigners" (which includes Americans). Since there are quotes from so many different nationalities, we are constantly subjected to what sounds like cartoonish characters from a Robin Williams routine...I persevered to the end because I was fascinated with the content, but Mr. Lee didn't make it easy…. especially since, when he had to read quotes in an actual foreign language like French or Italian, he couldn’t even pronounce the words correctly!

Outstanding

This is an outstanding book on a little known but critical time in modern European history