A new collection of essays from one of Britain's most renowned and respected historians -- a companion volume to the bestselling  Europe .      Collected here for the first time are some of the numerous essays and lectures by Norman Davies, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed  Europe, The Isles  and  Rising '44 . Spanning over a decade and a half of his remarkably prodigious career, this highly accessible collection addresses many of the issues that continue to dominate the political and cultural climate of Europe today.      From the classical origins of the idea of Europe to the division between East and West during the Cold War; from the Jewish and Islamic strands in European history to the expansion of Europe to other continents; from the misunderstood Allied victory in 1945 to Britain's place in Europe; from reflections on the use and abuse of history to personal recollections on learning languages -- this companion volume to the bestselling  Europe  looks at European history from a variety of unusual and entertaining angles in an equally erudite and accessible way.