Kent State University European Studies

Series Editors
Marcello Fantoni, Fabrizio Ricciardelli

Europe is historically an integrated system, and since the establishment of the European Union, it represents an important political entity of the global world. In many ways Europe has much in common with the United States, but it also has its own multifaceted identity and its own complex cultural profile. Superficial similarities often hide deeper differences, and Americans and Europeans have much more to learn and understand about each other than we usually imagine.
Furthermore, Western Civilization is not an obsolete concept, but it needs to be redefined in the context of the 21st century. This is one goal of these publications, so it is appropriate to focus on both the past and the present as they jointly contribute to shape reality. Knowing who we are and how we be- came what we are allows a higher level of cultural awareness, enabling us to leverage on our identity to positively interact with the larger world.
In order to accomplish this we must remove the barriers between traditional scholarly methodologies and more current investigations; we need a multidisciplinary approach. We hope this series will contribute to that and will welcome a broader audience to join this virtual round table discussion about Europe and its relationship to North America.