{"id":48106,"date":"2025-09-03T20:57:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=48106"},"modified":"2025-09-03T20:57:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:57:57","slug":"luka-ivan-jukic-central-europe-the-death-of-a-civilization-and-the-life-of-an-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=48106","title":{"rendered":"Luka Ivan Jukic, \u201eCentral Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An absorbing journey through a region caught between history, geography and ideology.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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August 2025 \/ 344 pp<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Description<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is \u2018Central Europe\u2019? Where do its borders lie? Does it even exist? Attempts to define it usually yield more questions than answers. But perhaps the wrong questions are being asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luka Ivan Jukic disentangles the enigma of Central Europe through its birth, death and rebirth. Today, Poland, Croatia and even Ukraine proudly align themselves with it, and so with Western civilization. But the term originally described an unrecognisably different world\u2014one formed in the eighteenth century by the unique inheritance of the Habsburg dynasty across Germany and a sprawling Danubian realm; by the rise of standard High German; and by its intermediate position between an \u2018advanced West\u2019 and \u2018backwards East\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two devastating world wars shattered this extraordinary civilization, reducing it to a Cold War frontier. Its unexpected reincarnation in the 1980s, as an ideological antidote to the Soviet East, spawned myths and polemics, but little clarity. Yet \u2018Central Europe\u2019 seems to feature in every contemporary crisis, from Russian aggression to European disunity. Why is it still such a powerful political idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Jukic writes fluently and peppers his book with colourful anecdotes. His decision to weave the different peoples\u2019 respective stories into a single chronological narrative makes sense, especially for times such as 1848, when a wave of revolutions promised to transform Central Europe (as would happen in 1989).\u2019 \u2014 Peter Conradi, The Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Luka Ivan Jukic combines the skills of historian and journalist to provide a concise overview of the political development of the empires and countries associated with the region. If you want to understand how and why Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia acquired their current forms and locations, this is a good place to start.\u2019 \u2014 TLS<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A provocative and enjoyable new book [written] with panache and sophistication.\u2019 \u2014 History Today<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018An elegant, erudite and thoughtful book. Luka Ivan Juki\u0107 brings to life a part of Europe that is too often pushed into the margins \u2013 but can be best understood as its heart. This is a region that can defy easy categorisation, but Juki\u0107 captures that complexity with rare sensitivity and insight.\u2019 \u2014 Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, University of Oxford<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Absolutely excellent \u2014 not just a fascinating canter through Central European history but a really thoughtful reflection on national identity. I can\u2019t recommend it too highly.\u2019 \u2014 Dominic Sandbrook, The Rest Is History<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A fantastic journey into a territory that is both absent and present, that is ephemeral but for which whole peoples are ready to die for.\u2019 \u2014 Peter Pomerantsev, author of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A masterful and bold account of the German and Habsburg Empires and of the Central European states which succeeded them, told with scholarly rigour and narrative \u00e9lan.\u2019 \u2014 Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Language matters, as in naming a space we identify, claim or reject it. From its cracking opening  with a literary duel in a Lisbon hotel onwards, Luka Ivan Jukic\u2019s book captivates the reader with its epic story of the life, death and possible rebirth of the idea of Central Europe.\u2019 \u2014 Brendan Simms, Professor of the History of European International Relations, University of Cambridge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018With a keen eye for both big and small key events, Luka Ivan Jukic meticulously unravels the history of Central Europe, as a territory, an idea and an ideal. To understand contemporary antisemitism and the war in Ukraine, this is essential reading.\u2019 \u2014 Pauline Terreehorst, author of Secrets of a Suitcase<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luka Ivan Jukic<\/strong> is a journalist and historian based in London. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, <\/em>the Financial Times, New Lines Magazine, Engelsberg Ideas, Foreign Policy, History Today<\/em>, and other publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Central Europe<\/a><\/blockquote>