"The Megalithic European is the conclusion of a 10-year odyssey that began with my research for its predecessor, The Modern Antiquarian, and took me far beyond the prehistoric sites of Britain dealt with in that first book. From here I literally journeyed from the temple circles of Ireland to the stone boats of Scandinavia and megaliths of the Mediterranean. What emerged was a 21st Century travelogues through some of the oldest structures in the world.I also realised that no-one had even attempted a thorough look at Europe before and even the existing books that had skimmed the surface were long out of print. The Megalithic European is my second huge guide to the first monuments of humanity, this time taking in over 300 prehistoric sites on mainland Europe and in its islands. The essay section examines the mystery of our prehistoric beginnings in order for us to understand and enrich our lives in the here and now. The gazetteer section is relentlessly thorough, with detailed instructions on how to get to these sites, and is stuffed as full as I could make it with over 800 colour photographs, maps, antiquarian drawings, reconstruction illustrations of these sacred places, and my own black and white drawings which just seemed to multiply as I moved from place to place.The secret weapon of this book is the surprising accessibility of these prehistoric megaliths. British travellers love to go abroad and the megalithic sites just happen to be in many of the places the British like to go already. Perfect. Low cost airlines can whizz you to places youve barely heard of and youre only a half-hour away from great stones! Mums or Dads who always spoil their kids holidays with re-routes away from the beach onto Bodmin Moor can now set their kids up and troll around umpteen Sardinian, Menorcan, Mallorcan, Maltese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Breton or Irish stone circles, etc. Compromises can be had in the northern sites around the Baltic, where kids will be happy to spend the summer in clean seas, with megaliths close to the Dutch, German, Danish and Swedish coasts.I felt that a British overview could get open-minded travellers out there to the monuments themselves - an ideal way to move the study up one further notch, getting some kind of dialogue going that will allow us all to see the context of our ancient past.Im past the stage of trying to theorize about these places. I know what I believe, but Im more interested in getting other people to see for themselves. Yes, the book is heavyweight and archeologically thorough, but, better still, its full of amazing photogenic sites across Europe that could make anyone travel."

JULIAN COPE - JULY 2004