Switzerland is a remarkable country half of whose territory lies in the Alps. The raising of cattle and the making of cheese eventually brought a modest wealth to the peasants but the destructive Napoleonic invasion brought revolution and poverty. The democratic unification of Switzerland created a common market and a single currency. This history of one alpine village illustrates a one-thousand-year struggle for survival on the edge of this white wilderness.

DAVID BIRMINGHAM is Professor of Modern History in the University of Kent at Canterbury. He is the author of several books including, Kwame Nkrumah: the Father of African Nationalism, A Concise History of Portugal, The Decolonization of Africa and Trade and Empire in the Atlantic, 1400-1600.