After the catastrophe of dictatorship and World War, the idea of liberal democracy, of property rights, and of Europe in the broader international order all needed to be remade. In Europe Reborn, Harold James offers a sweeping survey of twentieth-century Europe, from crisis to convergence, and the recreation of an international society, culture and economy. Drawing on and explicating the variety of ways historians have interpreted and analyzed these processes, he investigates the links and commonalities between different parts of the European experience, and examines what really underlies Mikhail Gorbachev's concept of a common European house.