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 enlarge | Authors: Rick Steves, Gene Openshaw
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $9.98
You Save: $14.97 (60%)
New (30) Used (15) from $9.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 90707
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 525
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1566915163
Dewey Decimal Number: 914
EAN: 9781566915168
ASIN: 1566915163
Publication Date: April 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New - Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Rick Steves' Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler July 30, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love reading the Rick Steves' travel books and was very pleasantly surprised by my new understanding of European History and how it relates to art after reading this book. Rick Steves puts everything into perspective and connects art and history in a clear and concise manner. As someone who didn't appreciate European History as a student, I have found this book to be a great tool to re-educate myself and feel I now have a better understanding of the art I will see while traveling in Europe!
You should Buy it!! June 9, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was searching for a book like this for months. Already a fan of Rick Steves, I picked this book up and was more than happy with my purchase. This is a fantastic book to learn history or to learn about art. I used it to read while traveling Europe, but would read it as a leisure read as well. The photos are impressive, but more impressive are the diagrams and timelines to help meld it all together.
A touch of culture and history May 17, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Yes...if you want to travel to Europe, you should know what is written in this guide.
I found it very usefull and interesting, I am not a guy that are used to read about history and art.
 Could Have Gotten 5 Stars, Except... October 3, 2005
23 out of 32 found this review helpful
If the entire book had been written like the first half I'd have given this book 5 stars without hesitation. Unfortunately, as others have observed, when he got to the Modern World Rick blew it.
The book is subtitled "History and Art for the Traveler." For the first 2/3rds or so of the book Rick stuck to the subject and the information was great. A wonderful overview of the early history of Europe and the evolution of art and architecture from ancient Egypt up until WWI. You don't get a lot of details, but as an overview it is well-written and fascinating. Just the sort of background that a traveller needs to really appreciate what he is seeing.
Once he got past WWI, though, it seems that Rick just couldn't stop himself from tossing in his personal political observations. Of course, politics and history are closely tied, so some political information is useful and necessary to understanding history. Good historians always include some political information. Sadly, Rick does not provide us with some political information. What he does is infuse all too many passages with his personal politics. At one point he includes a several-pages long dissertation that is nothing but a political rant--completely out of place in a book that is SUPPOSED to be about history and art for the traveller!
My other complaint about the book is that in some ways he is a bit of an art snob. He basically says that you don't have a right to criticize art if you don't understand it. He offers an analogy, saying that you can't appreciate the beauty of a '56 Chevy if you don't know a Volvo from an Edsel. I'm sorry, but that is simply not true. It is quite easy to have a deep appreciation for a '56 Chevy without know anything about Volvos or Edsels, or any other cars for that matter!
If no other car had ever existed, the '56 Chevy Belair would still be a thing of beauty. And you most certainly don't need to know anything about engines or transmissions to see that.
Having offered my complaints, I still give it three stars, because there is still a lot of useful information here. I would read up until the section on the Modern World. From there, skip to the description of Britain. Then read the section on art appreciation.
Even with its short-comings I think this book is worth the cover price. It's a good book. If Rick had stuck to the subject it would have been a great book.
101 means the introductory level July 17, 2005
22 out of 27 found this review helpful
Many reviewers on Amazon conveniently forget the targeted audience when criticizing a book, whatever be the subject. Most of the time, they are more interested in showing off their specialized knowledge or pushing their unrelated agenda.
Majority of seasonal travellers are interested in getting a welcome annual but temporary relief from their daily chores and pressures of life. They are not going to pour over voluminous specialist material just for that. At the same time wandering through the old museums and galleries is definitely going to be boring if one doesn't have some essential background information on what is being exhibited; especially so, when these places are crowded and noisy.
This book is intended for such travellers and not for specialists. The authors have every right to be opinionated as this book is an off-shoot of their tour operations which started at a very humble level. Growth of their organization owes much to word-of-the-mouth publicity by satisfied customers.
And Rick is no armchair Marco Polo. At a very young age he set out to explore the world and has visited many countries outside Europe. Those were the days when people like me wouldn't like to venture out of town. Nobody will believe that it all started with just a backpack. So he and his partner have every right to portray the world as they saw it. Many of his tours are through locations usually shunned by the big names in travel industry.
So asking him to comform to the regular guys in travel, history or art is preposterous.
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