This is Europe: The Way We Live Now

In a series of vivid, empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet some of the people who call Europe their home.

Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home? Who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries and steward our criss-crossing planes? And who risks life itself in search of safety and a new start?

Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom.

Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe.

Review

Thrilling, first-hand tales that explore the danger and ambitions of life in Europe. ― The Financial Times, A Book of the Year 2023

If you wish to know what Europe is becoming without us in its club, you'd do well to read Ben Judah's This Is Europe. ― Telegraph, A Book of the Year 2023

Imagine Ballard and Houellebecq teaming up on a Grand Tour, and you will have some idea of just how vivid, urgent and unsettling this superbly written book is. ― Tom Holland

Unflinching . . . a powerful piece of reportage. ― The Guardian

An extraordinary series of interviews. -- Rory Stewart

Deeply empathetic. Judah is an ace reporter with a novelist's love of character. He conjures people and place in a modern literary form he has made his own. There's no romance to this journey across Europe ― but an abundance of story which will make you lurch between fascination, laughter and tears. -- Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

Makes you expand the boundaries of your sympathies and your understanding. It’s an astonishing achievement. ― Evening Standard

A kaleidoscope of bright human experience. Moving, poignant and compelling – I devoured this in a day. -- Jenny Kleeman, author of Sex Robots & Vegan Meat

Brilliantly vivid. ― Daily Mail

Illuminating . . . a bold literary and journalistic experiment. Judah knows how to tell a story and does so with panache. ― The Spectator

Ben Judah has the ability to listen and retell, see and describe, feel and convey . . . Judah paints another Europe with intense and dramatic detail – a Europe that you may not recognize, but that you will look for every day having read this book. -- Andrey Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin

About the Author

Ben Judah is an author and journalist. He has reported from across Europe with his writing on politics and society featuring widely, including in The Sunday Times, The Financial Times and Foreign Policy. His second book, This is London, published by Picador, was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage. This Is Europe is his third book.