European Union

When Alex learns that Britain has decided to leave the European Union, he's shocked by just how normal everything seems. But the calm doesn't last as Alex is suddenly accosted by a giant living coin from the not so distant future. In this horrific future where Britain has left the EU, four story busses lie strewn about the streets of London after a failed plan to cut costs, the Queen's Guard have been replaced by flying reptiles with machine guns, and the River Thames runs red with molten lava.

In 1962 the American statesman Dean Acheson famously charged that Britain had lost an empire and failed to find a new role. Nearly 60 years later the rebuke rings true again. Britain's postwar search for its place in the world has vexed prime ministers and government since the nation's great victory in 1945: the cost of winning the war was giving up the empire. After the humiliation of Anthony Eden's Suez expedition, Britain seemed for a time to have found an answer.

Buck Trungle is in serious trouble. Struggling to find the inspiration for a follow up to his critically acclaimed short Pounded by the Pound: Turned Gay by the Socioeconomic Implications of Britain Leaving the European Union, the erotica author finds himself desperate to stay relevant in the ever quickening press cycle. But when Buck receives a love letter from the physical manifestation of his own book's press coverage, he jumps at the chance to turn their short fling into something even more thrilling...something real.

The European Union is the most ambitious, and one of the most contentious, international organizations ever created. Decisions made in Brussels shape the lives of over 500 million Europeans, and its laws and policies resonate around the world. But how has the European Union endured over three turbulent decades marred by crises at home and abroad? In this major account, Dermot Hodson traces the development of the European Union from its establishment in 1993 through to Brexit, COVID-19, and the invasion of Ukraine.