The end of the First World War saw old empires swept away and the opportunity to build a better society from the ruins. Yet the result was division and bloodshed on an unprecedented scale.

Mark Mazower’s watershed history retells the story of a century of division, charting the struggles of three rival ideologies - liberal democracy, communism and fascism - to create a new world order for mankind. Dark Continent radically overturns the myth of Europe as

a safe faven of democracy to redefine our view of the twentieth century.

‘Mazower has comprehended the whole of European history in this century, suggested a convincing explanation of its evolution, and constructed a text every undergraduate will find on his reading list well into the next… He also leaves us, in this wonderful book, with an account of our century that anyone who takes an interest in Europe’s present and future will enlarge their mind by reading.’ John Keegan, Daily Telegraph

‘Brilliant but disturbing… his controversial thesis is bound to stir debate… This superb book is a frightening reminder of how fragile democracy has been.’ Orlando Figes, The Times

‘Division and hatred and the reinvention of Europe in this, its most ruinous century are the themes of Mark Mazower’s book, the finest essay on Europe of our time.’ Robert Fox, European