Simon Winder. Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country

Simon Winder does not belong to English academia, so the book is accurate and lively. French direct  incitement of and participation in Belgium's 1830 revolution and secession from Kingdom of the Netherlands is glossed over. His tempo of  meth head machine gunner putting entire European history of 1000 years, since the Treaty of Verdun between Charlemagne's heirs (843) into 500 pages makes appreciation of the book difficult.