Ivan T. Berend is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles and member of the British Academy and six European Academies of Sciences. His numerous publications include From the Soviet Bloc to the European Union (2009), An Economic History of Twentieth Century Europe (2006) and History Derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the 'Long' Nineteenth Century (2003).

'This important book is contemporary history as it should be written. Against a triple background of central European, communist-era and US experience, Ivan Berend displays and critically analyses the situation and prospects of Europe, especially since the integration of the ex-communist states. He does so with his unique combination of information, lucidity, realism and sweeping historical perspective. One cannot fail to learn from, and sometimes to be surprised by, this coolly comparative diagnosis of Europe's problems.' Eric Hobsbawm, Birkbeck College, University of London

• Introduction; 1. Europe approaches the 1980s: the dual crises (1968–1980); 2. The end of 'Two Europes' and European integration; 3. The new cultural and political setting; 4. The economic response to globalization. Recovery and growth. The integration of eastern and western Europe; 5. Dramatic demographic and social changes, consumerism and the welfare state; Epilogue. Quo vadis Europa?; Bibliography.

Ivan T. Berend is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles and member of the British Academy and six European Academies of Sciences. His numerous publications include From the Soviet Bloc to the European Union (2009), An Economic History of Twentieth Century Europe (2006) and History Derailed: Central and Eastern Europe in the 'Long' Nineteenth Century (2003).

'This important book is contemporary history as it should be written. Against a triple background of central European, communist-era and US experience, Ivan Berend displays and critically analyses the situation and prospects of Europe, especially since the integration of the ex-communist states. He does so with his unique combination of information, lucidity, realism and sweeping historical perspective. One cannot fail to learn from, and sometimes to be surprised by, this coolly comparative diagnosis of Europe's problems.' Eric Hobsbawm, Birkbeck College, University of London

• Introduction; 1. Europe approaches the 1980s: the dual crises (1968–1980); 2. The end of 'Two Europes' and European integration; 3. The new cultural and political setting; 4. The economic response to globalization. Recovery and growth. The integration of eastern and western Europe; 5. Dramatic demographic and social changes, consumerism and the welfare state; Epilogue. Quo vadis Europa?; Bibliography.