Forging Democracy

The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000

Geoff Eley

Forging Democracy

The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000

Geoff Eley

Description

Democracy in Europe has been a recent phenomenon. Only in the wake of World War II were democratic frameworks secured, and, even then, it was decades before democracy truly blanketed the continent.

Neither given nor granted, democracy requires conflict, often violent confrontations, and challenges to the established political order. In Europe, Geoff Eley convincingly shows, democracy did not evolve organically out of a natural consensus, the achievement of prosperity, or the negative cement of the Cold War. Rather, it was painstakingly crafted, continually expanded, and doggedly defended by varying constellations of socialist, feminist, Communist, and other radical movements that originally blossomed in the later nineteenth century. Parties of the Left championed democracy in the revolutionary crisis after World War I, salvaged it against the threat of fascism, and renewed its growth after 1945. They organized civil societies rooted in egalitarian ideals which came to form the very fiber of Europe's current democratic traditions. The trajectories of European democracy and the history of the European Left are thus inextricably bound together.

Geoff Eley has given us the first truly comprehensive history of the European Left--its successes and failures; its high watermarks and its low tides; its accomplishments, insufficiencies, and excesses; and, most importantly, its formative, lasting influence on the European political landscape. At a time when the Left's influence and legitimacy are frequently called into question, Forging Democracy passionately upholds its vital contribution.

Forging Democracy

The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000

Geoff Eley

Author Information

Geoff Eley is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He is the author and editor of many books on British and German history, including Reshaping the German Right: Radical Nationalism and Political Change after Bismarck.

Forging Democracy

The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000

Geoff Eley

Reviews and Awards

"A tour de force written with panache and commitment will keep the reader spellbound throughout its almost 700 pages. it is surely a sign of a truly great book that its readers will want to take issue with it, argue with it and engage with it in manifold ways."-- Journal of Cold War Studies

"Overall, Eley has written a remarkable book that recounts a sweeping history."--Journal of Modern History

"There is nothing, to my knowledge, in the scholarly literature on the history of the Left to compare with it in comprehensiveness, forceful interpretation, and historiographical mastery. It is a noble achievement."--Central European History

Geoff Eley is to be commended for bringing together in one volume a wealth of information on the history of Europe's "Left."--Science & Society

"A magisterial overview...sweeping no just in its chronological but also its geographic scope. Forging Democracy will certainly rank with Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes as one of the lasting political histories of the (very) long twentieth century."--Contemporary Sociology

"Displays formidable erudition. A college library must."--CHOICE

"[A]dmirable tome....scholars and graduate students will find Eley's work a welcome addition to their reference shelf of standard works on European history....A genuinely pan-European dimension befitting both the nature of the subject and the times in which it was written....Ely's book is essential reading."--American Historical Review