Rick Steves' Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler [Paperback]

Rick Steves (Author), Gene Openshaw (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rick Steves | Publication Date: May 17, 2007

Now in full-color comes a witty and engaging look at Europe's history and art, from America's European travel guru. Rick Steves' Europe 101 helps you make the most of your sightseeing. A fun but informative guide, this "professor in your pocket" features chronologically organized chapters—from the pyramids to Picasso—that explain the forces behind Europe's most important cultural and artistic periods. Other features include handy lists of sights that allow you to link your newly acquired knowledge with the specific paintings, sculptures, and buildings you'll see on your trip, a humorous, readable style that is a joy to read compared with the history textbooks you slept on in school, and timelines, maps, drawings, and photos that illustrate Europe's story and round out your education.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This neat little book gives you enough practical knowledge of European art history to make your trip to the great museums and churches a lot more enjoyable. It connects yesterday's Europe with today's sights -- art, museums, buildings, and people. An essential tool for any traveler's backpack or suitcase. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Steves preaches a low-cost, low-to-the-ground style that not only saves money, but gets you closer to the real Europe, the way Europeans experience it"

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; Seventh Edition edition (May 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566915163
• ISBN-13: 978-1566915168
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Guidebooks

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing!, October 21, 1999

By 

"pdimacali" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rick Steves' Europe 101 (Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler (Rick Steves)) (Paperback)

As a first-time traveler to Italy, it was important to me to find information that to make this trip even more meaningful. I found it in this book. Wish I had this as my textbook for both European History and Humanities.

This book allowed me to fully comprehend, appreciate and wonder at the significance of the architectural, engineering, cultural and art contributions of Europe to the world. Even my sister who is a seasoned traveler to Europe found this book thoroughly educational as well as entertaining.

BRAVO! I will go to Europe again next year, and will take Rick's book on the best Europe has to offer.

Thank you.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best one volume, comprehensive work for the average tourist, May 18, 2001

By 

yarb66 "yarb66" (Plano, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rick Steves' Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler (6th Edition) (Paperback)

This book is not an in-depth history lesson, thank God. That would be boring. Instead, it's a very readable, lively short coverage of how Europe got to where it is today. If you're going to Europe to see a whirlwind of cities and museums, then reading this book will help you understand how and why something ended up in the museum or was built to look that way. I used to think art galleries in Europe were like visits to the dentist, necessary but painful. After reading 101, I have a much better understanding of the paintings and can trace the development and subject matter, making it fun and informative.

Also, the book has the best descriptive chart of history I have ever seen, laying out the different architecture periods (so you can see what came when) along with who lived when (Michaelangelo, Bach, Mozart, etc.) and other important historical events. This alone really helped me sort out the big jumbled mess of history.

If you're looking for in-depth, detailed coverage, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for that historical overview to help put everything in perspective without having to dig through volumes of dry material, then this is what you've been hoping for.

Good travels!

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and a great way to prep for European Vacation, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rick Steves' Europe 101 (Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler (Rick Steves)) (Paperback)

I was very impressed by this book. It was well organized as it wove basic history into a discussion of major works of art and major tourist sights. It was interesting to learn how art evolved over hundreds of years, and how it changed as Europe changed. I particularly appreciated how the book did not assume a great deal of familiarity with the subject matter, yet never talked down to the reader. Most college-educated readers will find it to be just right. I wish I had read this book before my very first trip to Europe. I expect my next trip will be much more meaningful now that I will be able to put everything in context.