Roderick Beaton for Europe: A New History

'_Europe _is big history at its best.

In this captivating romp across twenty-five centuries, from the Battle of Marathon to Putin's war on Ukraine, Roderick Beaton offers inspiring and surprising answers to one of the great questions of our age: what is Europe?' - Ian MorrisOne for the history buffs! Award-winning historian Roderick Beaton joins us to discuss his latest, _Europe: A New History_.

Beaton questions what we talk about when we talk about Europe? Is it defined by geography? Or is it politics, or shared culture? Perhaps it's all of the above.

In Europe, Beaton tells the story of Europe as never before - as the history of an idea, and a collective identity._Since its dramatic birth in ancient Greece, 'Europe' has been defined, and redefined, by its people.

Through this powerful lens, and with the narrative drive and scope of a novelist, Beaton deftly surveys Europe's major historical developments: the rise and fall of Rome; the explosion of Christianity; the intellectual ferment of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment; the arrival of Europeans in the Americas; the violent upheavals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and the uncertainties of the present.

Throughout, original sources allow the voices of the past, from Tacitus to Thatcher, to speak for themselves.__Grappling with the multilayered identities that have always come with being European, Europe places the Europe of today in a long arc of history stretching back more than 2,500 years._Roderick Beaton is Emeritus Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London and Chair of Trustees of the British School at Athens, an institute of advanced research.

He is a four-time winner of the Runciman Award, for his books An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature, George Seferis: Waiting for the Angel: A Biography, Byron's War: Romantic Rebellion, Greek Revolution, and Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, published by Penguin in 2019.

He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic, and an honorary citizen of Greece.

He was knighted in 2024._See here for venue accessibility_ [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/accessibility/edinburgh-royal-scots-club-event-accessibility/]