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.

"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