The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent - Softcover

Laqueur, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031254183X ISBN 13: 9780312541835

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009

Synopsis

· In Brussels in 2004, more than 55 percent of the children born were of immigrant parents
· Half of all female scientists in Germany are childless
· According to a poll in 2005, more than 40 percent of British Muslims said Jews were a legitimate target for terrorist attacks

What happens when a falling birthrate collides with uncontrolled immigration? The Last Days of Europe explores how a massive influx from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East has loaded Europe with a burgeoning population of immigrants, many of whom have no wish to be integrated into European societies but make full use of the host nations' generous free social services.
One of the master historians of twentieth-century Europe, Walter Laqueur is renowned for his "gold standard" studies of fascism, terrorism, and anti-Semitism. Here he describes how unplanned immigration policies and indifference coinciding with internal political and social crises have led to a continent-wide identity crisis. "Self-ghettoization" by immigrant groups has caused serious social and political divisions and intense resentment and xenophobia among native Europeans. Worse, widespread educational failure resulting in massive youth unemployment and religious or ideological disdain for the host country have bred extremist violence, as seen in the London and Madrid bombings and the Paris riots. Laqueur urges European policy makers to maintain strict controls with regard to the abuse of democratic freedoms by preachers of hate and to promote education, productive work, and integration among the new immigrants.
Written with deep concern and cool analysis by a European-born historian with a gift for explaining complex subjects, this lucid, unflinching analysis will be a must-read for anyone interested in international politics and the so-called clash of civilizations.

About this title

About the Author:

WALTER LAQUEUR served as the director of the Institute of Contemporary History in London and concurrently the chairman of the International Research Council of CSIS in Washington for 30 years. He was also a professor at Georgetown University and the author of more than twenty-five books on Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. He has had articles published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and countless other newspapers worldwide. His books include Putinism, and After the Fall.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

“[A]lmost overnight what had been considered a minor problem on a local level is becoming a major political issue, for there is growing resistance on the part of the native population, who resent becoming strangers in their own homelands.” —from the Introduction “Even if Europe’s decline is now irreversible, there is no reason that it should become a collapse. There is, however, a precondition: facing realities at long last.... The age of delusions is over.... It will be a very slow process and the outcome will be a Europe quite different from the one we have known.” —from chapter 6, “The Failure of Integration, and Europe’s Future”

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 031254183X
• ISBN 13: 9780312541835
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256