The Idea of Europe: From Antiquity to the European Union

This book addresses the question of what it means, and has meant, to be "European," covering the period from Antiquity to the end of the twentieth century. The essays discuss questions of politics, law, religion, culture, literature, and even affectivity in a broad account of how a distinctive European identity has grown over the centuries and its place in the future evolution of the European Union. In the massive literature of European integration, no other book takes such a long historical perspective, and none other deals directly with the question of identity.

Anthony Pagden is a professor of history and political science at The Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of many books on the history of European social and political thought and of Europe's links to the non-European world