A. J. P. Taylor's book is the sine qua non for university students of European history. This is the real deal: Taylor was a genuine historian who never went further than his facts--and his facts are incredibly well researched, well documented, and bountiful. This is true historiography: the way history ought to be done! Plus, Taylor writes very well, in a lively and entertaining fashion. He has good language, wit, and trenchant observations.It must be noted that this is a history of diplomacy--with some political and military of necessity treated. What does this mean? Well, it means that the characters of Taylor's book are mostly forgotten professional diplomats, and therefore most of their names won't be familiar to those unschooled in modern European history--Bismarck and Disraeli excepted. But this esoterica only increases the value of Taylor's work; for it reveals these forgotten characters to us once again: a gem of historical literature.