In this conversational book Desmond Fennell provides three things in one:

• A critique of the standard History of Europe as found in textbooks and works of reference, on the grounds that it is distorted by imprecise designation and victors' history—and does not make sense for Europeans in the twenty-first century
• A manual which enables readers of the 'standard history', wherever encountered, to note the main distortions and make appropriate mental corrections;
• An outlined new history of Europe which would be true and clear and make sense for Europeans living in the twenty-first century.