Europe Revised

Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury), 1876-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 515K words
Chapters: 52

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Europe Revised by Irvin S. CobbAuthor: Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury), 1876-1944,Language: English, Class: D: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere, Release Date: Oct 1, 2003

Editor's review

This book is Irvin S. Cobb's record of Europe in the manner of a travel sketch, an impressionistic account by an early twentieth-century American journalist of life in the Old World. Its value lies not in systematic history but in the immediacy of a firsthand witness who writes with humor and prejudice: street scenes, hotel encounters, and the everyday lives of ordinary people in the aftermath of war are all rendered vividly and readably. Cobb excels at exaggeration and irony for comic effect; his prose is brisk and well suited as an introduction to the atmosphere of Europe between the two world wars. Readers should note that the book's judgments carry clear period limitations and personal bias and are best treated as documentary essays rather than an objective guide. It suits fragmented reading on a commute or before sleep, and serves as further reading for those interested in modern European social history and travel literature. The English original has a slightly dated flavor, but its sentence structure is not difficult; a basic grounding in English is enough to get started.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in early twentieth-century European society
Readers who enjoy travel sketches and a humorous, satirical style
Readers with intermediate English who want to practice reading original prose
Enthusiasts of modern travel literature and periodical essays

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic European history or rigorous scholarship
Travelers seeking current practical travel information
Readers with weak English who prefer easy, plain-language books

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and first chapter to grasp the author's tone and perspective, then decide which chapters to read closely.
Read the book's judgments against present-day common knowledge, noting instances of period bias as you go to build critical notes.
Break the reading down by city or theme, taking one or two chapters at a time to avoid fatigue from long sittings.
Skip unfamiliar place names and events at first; look them up together after finishing a chapter to keep your reading rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a systematic history of Europe?

No. It is closer to a journalist's travel sketch and social observation, recording the cities, people, and daily life of early twentieth-century Europe in a personal, humorous tone rather than along a chronological outline. For systematic history, choose a scholarly work; this book works well as atmospheric supplementary reading.

How difficult is the English original, and what level does it suit?

The language has the flavor of early twentieth-century periodical prose; the vocabulary is somewhat old-fashioned but the sentences are not complex, and a reading level around CET-4 is enough to attempt it. Try a page or two first, and focus on grasping the gist of paragraphs rather than looking up every word.

Are the book's views still reliable today?

The observations have immediacy, but the judgments carry the author's personal stance and period limitations, especially on matters of ethnicity and social class, and need to be examined critically. Read it as a documentary text: you can sense the tone of the era and also train the habit of staying alert to bias.

Comments

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About the author

Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury), 1876-1944 Author

Irvin S. Cobb (1876–1944) was an American humorist and war correspondent. The library holds twenty-five of his works, which fall roughly into two groups. One is set in a fictional Kentucky town, including Old Judge Priest, Back Home and Fibble, D.D., where characters such as Judge Priest bring Southern local life and manners to the page in a humorous yet warm tone. The other consists of reports and sketches from the First World War, such as The Glory of the Coming, Paths of Glory and Europe Revised, marked by close observation and unhurried narration. His prose stands between the humorous sketch and news reportage, often using colloquial dialogue and exaggerated detail for effect. Public information is limited, so this note describes his writing only as reflected in the works held here.