The European Union is one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. Why is Europe so important, and at the same time, why is no one really interested in it? Dutch writer Mark Schalekamp set out to find answers to these and other questions and travelled to all 28 of the European Union’s member states to interview eight people in each capital city: a doctor, a police officer, a hairdresser, an entrepreneur, an artist, an immigrant, a sex worker and a local celebrity.

What is Europe? Wh...