Paul Scheffer

Paul Scheffer (born 1954) worked as a correspondent in Paris and Warsaw, produced television programmes for VPRO, and held professorships at the University of Amsterdam (urban affairs) and Tilburg University (European Studies). Since 1990 he has written for NRC. In recent years he was writer in residence at Comenius Leergangen, where he contributed to a course on European Values and completed his latest book. He was also a member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs.

His bibliography includes A Satisfied Nation: The Netherlands in Europe (1988), The Grasp for Eternal Peace (2000), The Land of Arrival (2007), Everything Participates in Reality (2013), and The Form of Freedom (2018). His work has been translated in numerous countries.

This evening centres on his latest book: The Day After Liberation: An Intellectual History of Contemporary Europe. In it, Scheffer traces the end of the post-war period, drawing on fifty years of writing, travel, encounters and debates. Themes such as the wars of our time, the erosion of democracies and the struggle over colonial memory are each placed in a longer historical perspective. He analyses Europe's position, caught between Russia, China and America.

On The Land of Arrival (2007), De Volkskrant wrote: "In the welter of emotions surrounding immigration and integration in the Netherlands, The Land of Arrival is a breath of fresh air." Timothy Garton Ash called it "the most acute, sensitive and nuanced account there is of Europe's new immigrants - essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand today's Europe." De Morgen: "The best book written about migration in the Low Countries." The Financial Times: "An important ambitious book … and it's a damn good read too."