For stimulating discussions, advice on specialist literature, supply of offprints or books, interest in my venture and help in various other ways I am grateful to Patrick Argent, Joe Bergin, John Breuilly, Archie Brown, Franz Brüggemeier, Detlef Felken, Christian Göschel, Mike Hannah, Geoffrey Hosking, Thomas Karlauf, Thomas Kielinger, Frances Lynch, Frank O’Gorman, Paul Preston, Colin Steele, Alan Steinweis, Frank Trentmann, Heinrich August Winkler, Charlotte Woodford and Benjamin Ziemann. I would also like to record my thanks, without knowing those involved personally, to leading journalists of major British, German and American newspapers on whose excellent reportage and analysis of political, economic and foreign affairs I was able to draw extensively, especially for the last chapter of the volume. And I am greatly obliged (again without personal acquaintance) to the distinguished Guardian columnist Martin Kettle, who was kind enough to read the text and save me from a number of gratuitous factual errors.
My warmest thanks go to Traude Spät who, together with her husband, Ulrich, made me as welcome as ever when I stayed in Munich, ensuring, too, through frequent supplies of German press cuttings, that I was kept aware of different perspectives on European affairs from those I would regularly see in British media. Not least, I’m grateful to Traude for coming up with the title ‘Achterbahn’ (Roller-Coaster), as we struggled to find a suitable image for the vagaries of Europe’s history during the last seven decades. Other friends were also helpful beyond any call of duty. Laurence Rees, Nicholas Stargardt and David Cannadine generously gave up their time to read and comment on the typescript, providing many insights, corrections and suggestions. My periodic discussions with Laurence, a wonderful friend since the time when we worked together on television productions, were an invariable stimulus. My wife, Betty, and elder son, David, also read the typescript and posed numerous detailed queries that helped to improve the text.
Simon Winder has been, as ever, a superb editor – never pestering me, but always there with cheerful encouragement when called for, and offering invaluable suggestions. He was also a great help in selecting the photos. As with previous books, my thanks also go to all the members of the splendid team at Penguin who have contributed in different ways to the production, especially to Ellen Davies for her editorial assistance and to Richard Duguid for his work on the maps. I’m also most grateful to Richard Mason, who again showed skill, knowledge and precision in his excellent copy-editing of the text. Dave Cradduck has produced a magnificent index. Once more I have been able to depend on the continued support, which I value greatly, of Andrew Wylie in New York and James Pullen at the Wylie Agency in London.
My loving thanks go, as always, first and foremost to my family – to Betty, David (and Hannah), Stephen and Becky, and to our grandchildren, Sophie (and Paul), Joe, Ella, Olivia and Henry. For our grandchildren and their generation, my greatest hope is that Europe’s future will still rest on the peace, freedom and prosperity that the post-war generation strived, however imperfectly, to construct.
Ian Kershaw, Manchester, January 2018