Nice, casual overview of European history and art. Good review before visiting the area. ( )

I've always been a science and math type of girl. I have an interest in art and history, but no patience for them. As such, this book was perfect for me. It gives a brief (500 page) history of Europe and its art from prehistoric times to today with lots of color photos and sidebars. I was very appreciative of the bit at the end which explained Christian themes and symbols and Greek and Roman mythology, which in just a few pages increased my understanding of the vast majority of European art. I happened to read this book while traveling through Europe on a Rick Steves' tour so every day I would see something and think "I just read about that!" or read something and think, "I just saw that!" which was pretty neat. Unfortunately, I was still sick of art and history by the time I finished reading this. The last chapter in this book is "Europe Today." It gave an interesting description of the EU, but I was a little annoyed because I felt it got a little to soapboxy at times. I enjoyed the way the entire book was sprinkled with humor, but sometimes it felt just a little bit too irreverent. Overall, I'm very glad I read this. ( )

There's certainly been updates to this old version, but I found the book to be very good. It didn't purport to be history or art instruction, but trusted the reader to know (or find out on his own) the background. I took it to Europe as a 16-year old, and it was spot-on. ( )

I have only read pages 112-146 on Florence and the Renaissance, in perparation for our trip to Florence in a couple of weeks. ( )