The book tells about the modern history of Europe, from the end of the Second World War to the present day. This is an accurate and vivid overview of the main stages of this story: the results of the war – the split into West and East – the course towards unification, the creation and success of the EU – the crises of the 21st century.The author was a direct witness or active participant in most of the important events of the last fifty years and is intimately acquainted with key figures in world history: Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Helmut Kohl, George W. Bush - these are just a few names from this extensive list.From the author: «…This is a story illustrated by a memoir. I rely on my own diaries, notebooks, photographs, memories, on what I have seen and heard over the past half century, as well as on the memories of other people. I quote from my conversations with European leaders where it helps clarify the essence of historical events, but I also write about numerous meetings with so-called ordinary people, who often turn out to be more remarkable than their leaders."Timothy Garton Ash is a renowned historian and political scientist, a leading specialist in European studies, and a professor at Oxford University, who was awarded the International Charlemagne Prize for his contribution to the unification of Europe. It is published in Russian for the first time.Timothy Garton Ash devoted his entire life to the study of Europe. For many decades, he has experienced her fate from his own experience, witnessed turning points in her history. The book is full of personal impressions: his father's memories of the Normandy landings, a school trip to France for an exchange, communication with Polish dockworkers and Albanian partisans, conversations with prime ministers, chancellors and presidents.… This is an honest conversation about the fact that after a period of progress and hope, many things went wrong: from the 2008 financial crisis to the war in Ukraine. "Europe ..." is an urgent appeal to the inhabitants of the great old continent: to realize and protect what we have achieved through joint efforts.Timothy Snyder: A necessary book for Europe, written at the right time. For a continent so fascinated by its past and so indispensable to our common future, this combination of memories and reflections is the perfect book to read in the present. Garton Ash's beautifully written work tells us about the Europe that once was, and what it may yet become.Neil Ferguson: Garton Ash's strength lies in the fact that he always keeps the pan-European picture in focus... at the moment he remains the best English-speaking researcher of modern Europe.Sunday Times: An incredibly fascinating book: thoughtful, honest, open, self-critical. The author tells the story of Europe at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty–first century - how, after emerging from the hell of war in 1945, it slowly rebuilt and rebuilt, liberated and united in order to approach the ideal of Europe "united, free and peaceful." And now he's going through hard times again.Financial Times: You couldn't ask for a more competent narrator... the book is defiantly optimistic.Translated from English by Veniamin Andreev and Kirill Saveliev