The Timothy Garton Ash Library 

About the Library 

The European Studies Centre library contains some 6,000 books on contemporary European history and politics collected by Timothy Garton Ash from the 1970s to the 2020s and presented by him to the Centre as a working library. The collection has particular strengths on Germany and central, eastern, and south eastern Europe, as well as on the European Union and Britain’s troubled relationship with it. 

Clusters of relevant and sometimes rare items may be found on such topics as the Stasi secret police in East Germany, the Solidarność movement in Poland, Václav Havel and the Czechoslovak dissident movement, German Ostpolitik, the revolutions of 1989, and the Bosnia, Kosovo and Russo-Ukrainian wars. 

The collection also features material on the history of political thought, with a particular focus on liberalism, as well as related issues such as free speech, capitalism, democracy, and the challenge of combining freedom and diversity. 

Access to the Library 

Access to the library is confined to specialist researchers (including graduate students) who are members of the University, by prior appointment with the European Studies Centre administrator (european.studies@sant.ox.ac.uk). All items may only be consulted inside the European Studies Centre building. A small reading room is available in the Centre during working hours.