Walter Laqueur, Europe in Our Time: A History, 1945-1992 (1992), parts One to Four
§Charles S. Maier, "The Two Postwar Eras and the Conditions for Stability in Twentieth-
     Century Western Europe," American Historical Review, April 1981

Design your own essay topic on Europe in the period 1945 to 1970. Choose a topic that highlights and explains important elements of continuity and/or difference between postwar Europe and earlier times we have studied, using some of the major themes that recur in our tutorial.

Our tutorial scants the past fifty years because these are the subject matter of most CSS courses you will take during your Junior and Senior years. This week is our introductory survey of the subject, from our familiar European perspective. You are invited not only to think about the great changes within Europe after 1945 -- changes in the economy, in society, in power relations, in the basic culture -- but also to think about the place of the European powers and European culture in the world.

Make up your own topic. Your topic should be a) broad and interesting, and b) related to the themes and materials of the course. Check with me if you're unsure  whether you have found an appropriate subject to write about.