"My perspective is that of a phenomenologist and specialist in French and Spanish cultures. As such, the book left a special impression on me: Neumann does not limit himself to the mentioned areas of Europe, but understands the continent in its entirety, that is, ‘West’ and ‘East’ as a whole." — World Complexity Science Academy

The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment - these seismic developments in Western thought were not confined to Italy and her near neighbours, but were paralleled across the vast and culturally diverse territory stretching from Vienna to Constantinople. Drawing on an array of sources, many of which were little-known before he made this ground-breaking study, Victor Neumann charts the development of Eastern European thought and its literary and artistic expression from the Middle Ages to the modern age.

First published, to great acclaim in Romania in 1991, this newly revised, updated and illustrated edition has been published as Neumann's home city of Timișoara prepares to receive visitors from across the world as European Capital of Culture, and at a time when the question of what it means to be European is being debated more than ever.