Customer Reviews:
 Good overview, not too much depth April 10, 2003
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Excellent choice if you want a general overview of EU history and institutions. Also good for preparation for an EU competition. Doesn't touch the main challenges of policy making though, apart from some issues that are important from the UK point of view.
Excellent overview of the EUropean Union July 13, 2006
Y. Mcgillicuddy
In my opinion, this book provides an excellent view into the workings of the European Union for both those who have little knowledge of the Union and those who want to find out more detail. It covers all aspects of the union inlcuding economy, treaties, european law and european policy aswell as going through the finer points detailing the effect on the individual countries that are member nations. The book is reasonably 'wordy' so I would not recommend it for a light read ! However it is a lot less tedious than many guide books or factual books that are written on such a specific subject. Overall it is incredibly useful for anyone wanting to gain insight into the EU
 UK perspective, not seriously updated January 30, 2006
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
The book can be divided in three parts: history of EU integration (mostly from a British perspective, but including plenty of Thatcher-bashing), institutions (too a brief and superficial analysis) and policies (the strongest part of the book, but not entirely up to date).The updating of the latest edition (2005) is a very poor exercise, lacking serious redefinition of priorities or themes. Parts of the text still refer to the EU-15, and treats new member states as candidate countries. Most data -including tables- is also outdated. The book is too superficial to be used as a tool for the preparation of the EU exams. For regular readers of The Economist, the book can be disappointing, as it doesn't reflect their neutral and amusing style, nor the depth and knowledge you would expect from an EU guide. For the preparation of the EU concours, you would do better with a more serious titles, such as Dinan's "Ever Closer Union". This book is useful if you just want to get an overview of the EU, and do not bothered if it is not entirely up to date.
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