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It is 1999, and Dutch journalist Geert Mak is travelling across Europe reflecting on the history of the past century. Today, cosmonauts and Yeltsin. Nicholas Farrell reads.

It's 1999 and the Dutch journalist Geert Mak is travelling through Europe reflecting on the history of the last 100 years and it's legacy. Today, he meets a famous cosmonaut and looks at the fall out from the demise of the Soviet Union. To conclude Mak has written a new epilogue bringing his reflections on the continent up to date. Nicholas Farrell reads.

Abridged by Rowan Routh
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

15 minutes

Last on

Sat 27 Jan 2018 00:30

Clip

Epilogue

Our Book of the Week, In Europe, chronicles the Dutch journalist Geert Mak鈥檚 travels through Europe at the close of the twentieth century.聽 His year long journey was the result of a commission from the newspaper he worked for to write a series of articles assessing the condition Europe was in on the eve of the new millennium, and to reflect on the legacy left behind by the turbulent twentieth century. Mak travelled back and forth all over the continent, painting a lively and engaging portrait of the places he visited and the people he encountered along the way who shared their personal stories with him.聽

In Book of the Week we鈥檝e heard how Mak left his home town of Amsterdam for Paris where he finds the remnants of the spectacular World's Fair held there in 1900. We鈥檝e accompanied him as he retraced Lenin鈥檚 revolutionary footsteps from Zurich to Petrograd, via Stockholm and Helsinki where he contrasted the Bolshevik leader's fiery politics with the more measured route taken by the Scandinavians. Then off to Odessa and Istanbul where traces of acceptance and tolerance are found amid the worst excesses of tyranny. 聽His journey takes him to Moscow where he meets the Russian cosmonaut, Anatoli Artsybarski who recalls orbiting the Earth as the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991. To round off the week, Geert Mak wrote a new piece where he updated his reflections and opinions on the shape of the continent almost two decades after setting out on his year long journey around Europe.聽

Credits

Role Contributor
Reader Nicholas Farrell
Author Geert Mak
Abridger Rowan Routh
Producer Elizabeth Allard

Broadcasts

  • Fri 26 Jan 2018 09:45
  • Sat 27 Jan 2018 00:30

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