"Imagine a world without institutions. No governments. No school or universities. No access to any information. No banks. Money no longer has any worth. There are no shops, because no one has anything to sell. Law and order are virtually non-existent because there is no police force and no judiciary. Men with weapons roam the streets taking what they want. Women of all classes and ages prostitute themselves for food and protection."

This is the state of Europe in the immediate post-WWII period. Right across the Continent life did not immediately return to the kind of contented relief (or indeed joyous celebration) that many of the myths that have since arisen. Cities and towns were utterly ruined, millions upon millions had been killed, displaced, enslaved and subjugated. Food was scarce, and so - it would appear - was pity.

We shouldn't really be surprised though. Anger and vengeance often trumped notions like 'justice', and Lowe does a remarkable job exploring how uneven the 'settling of scores' was felt. This is in many ways a depressing book. In particular, we venture into the post-war reconstruction/ destruction of civil society in Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. The oft-overlooked violence that emerged in Poland, the Ukraine and the former-Yugoslavia present case studies of the very worst of human nature.

Not many come out of this looking good.

That said, this is an important and necessary book, and I commend Lowe for writing it. I recommend it most highly to anyone.