Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

Non fiction book by Tony Judt

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 is a 2005 non fiction book written by British historian Tony Judt examining the six decades of European history from the end of World War II in Europe in 1945 to 2005. Postwar is widely considered one of the foremost accounts of contemporary European history, particularly with regards to the history of Eastern Europe. It has been translated into French and German. Although it was published in 2005, Postwar had been in development since 1989.

The historian Norman Davies nonetheless noted that Postwar "is impervious to religion, unmoved by music and rather complacent about non French and non political branches of art and culture" and put less emphasis on the experiences of Ireland, the larger regions of France and Germany, and regionalism in general. Similarly, Ferrnández Armesto criticises the omission of "science, ecology, food, crime, black people, music, women, and art." Judt excused the omission of a scholarly apparatus because it was “a very long book addressed to a general readership,” but nonetheless promised that the source references and bibliography would eventually be made available online.

Postwar combines different historiographical traditions, particularly Anglophone and French historiography.

Judt considers the European model of government and economy to be an accident, brought about by "necessity and pragmatism" as opposed to a specific political vision. the book includes more extensive coverage of Eastern Europe than had been common at the time, which journalist Neal Ascherson credits to influence from Norman Davies' 1996 book Europe: A History.

Judt wrote the book to present "an avowedly personal interpretation" without devising a "big theory" of or "overarching theme". Ascherson wrote that Judt was "writing mainly [but not exclusively] about the changing memory of the Jewish Holocaust." as well as the policies of the European Community.