In 878 grim pages, Tony Judt’s POSTWAR tries to tell the story of Europe recovering from the ravages of World War II and confronting the threat of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It’s an impossible task, but Judt makes a good run at it. Music, art, movies, TV programs blend with the power politics of Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. Any way you read it, this is a tragic story.