Simon Jenkins paints a vivid portrait of the continent—with its imperial ambitions, fierce battles, and existential fears—which, as the author believes, are characteristic of today’s Europe just as much as in the times of Julius Caesar and Charlemagne, Joan of Arc and Napoleon, Lenin and Churchill. Above all, the author values political history and the never-ending struggle for power that lies at its center. Without changing the chronological approach, moving from country to country and from one historical event or figure to another, Jenkins presents the history of a continent that, probably more than any other, contributed to shaping modern civilization. And this is not just stating a fact: by the last pages of “A Short History of Europe,” the reader understands how deeply humanity’s present is rooted in its past.