The European Experience: A Multi-Perspective History of Modern Europe, 1500-2000
Jochen Hung et al.
The Teaching European History in the 21st Century project published ‘The European Experience: A Multi-Perspective History of Modern Europe, 1500-2000’ in open access. The book was written by nearly 100 historians from across Europe and aims to diversify the study of modern European history. Thirty Utrecht University scholars contributed.
A valuable corrective
Offering a valuable corrective to the Anglocentric narratives of previous English-language textbooks, scholars from all over Europe have pooled their knowledge on comparative themes such as identities, cultural encounters, power and citizenship, and economic development to reflect the complexity and heterogeneous nature of the European experience.
Rather than another grand narrative, the international author teams of ‘The European Experience’ offer a multifaceted and rich perspective on the history of the continent of the past 500 years. Each major theme is dissected through three chronological sub-chapters, revealing how major social, political and historical trends manifested themselves in different European settings during the early modern (1500-1800), modern (1800-1900) and contemporary period (1900-2000).
‘Truly European’ analyses
‘The European Experience’ is of utmost relevance to today’s history students in the light of ongoing internationalisation strategies for higher education curricula, as it delivers one of the first multi-perspective and truly ‘European’ analyses of the continent’s past.
Beyond the provision of historical content, this textbook equips students with the intellectual tools to interrogate prevailing accounts of European history, and enables them to seek out additional perspectives in a bid to further enrich the discipline.