A Personal History of Europe

Drawing on half a century of travel and firsthand experience, in Homelands historian Timothy Garton Ash explores Europe’s progress in its post-war decades of hope – and why so much went wrong. In his latest novel Lessons, Ian McEwan’s protagonist is swept along by the tide of history, with some of his life mirroring the author’s own. Listen in on a conversation between two friends as they talk about exploring personal history through fiction and non-fiction, consider how Europe’s past will shape its future and issue an urgent call for us to understand and defend what we have collectively achieved.