Originally published: Oxford : Helicon, 1996.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Bk. 1. Heritages. Ch. 1. Bedrock. Ch. 2. Ancient Greece. Ch. 3. The making of the Roman world. Ch. 4. Imperial Rome and world history -- Bk. 2. Christendom. Ch. 1. Re-definition. Ch. 2. The re-shaping of the west. Ch. 3. Medieval societies. Ch. 4. Frontiers and neighbours. Ch. 5. The civilization of the Middle Ages. Ch. 6. New prospects in the east -- Bk. 3. Launching modern history 1500-1800. Ch. 1. A new age. Ch. 2. Society and belief. Ch. 3. The political organization of western Europe. Ch. 4. The ancient regime. Ch. 5. The world's new shape -- Bk. 4. The European age. Ch. 1. New politics. Ch. 2. The world's new rich. Ch. 3. A new sort of civilization. Ch. 4. A new European order. Ch. 5. World hegemony. Ch. 6. International order and disorder -- Bk. 5. Europe's twentieth century: the era of European civil war. Ch. 1. Pressures and strains. Ch. 2. The breakdown of international order. Ch. 3. European revolution. Ch. 4. Crumbling foundations.

Ch. 5. The last years of European illusion -- Bk. 6. Europe in the Cold War and after. Ch. 1. Europe in the aftermath of war. Ch. 2. Europe and global Cold War. Ch. 3. The end of the European post-war order. Ch. 4. A new order in the making? Postscript: Facing the twenty-first century.

Beginning with its Paleolithic origins and the early civilizations of the Aegean, Roberts traces the development of the European identity over the course of thousands of years, ranging across empires and religions, economics, science, and the arts. Antiquity, the age of Christendom, the Middle Ages, early modern history, and the old European order all are surveyed in turn, with particular emphasis given to the turbulent twentieth century.