100 ratings (4.6/5) on Amazon for the first edition: The long-awaited
new edition of the acclaimed, first-ever comprehensive, informative, and
entertaining history of Eastern Europe in English--thoroughly updated,
with a major new section on the postcommunist era and a foreword by BBC
News Central Europe Correspondent Nick Thorpe
When the legendary Romulus killed his brother Remus and founded the city
of Rome in 753 BCE, Plovdiv--today the second-largest city in
Bulgaria--was thousands of years old. Indeed, London, Paris, Berlin,
Vienna, Madrid, Brussels, Amsterdam are all are mere infants compared to
Plovdiv. This is just one of the paradoxes that haunts and defines the
New Europe, that part of Europe that was freed from Soviet bondage in
1989, and which is at once both much older than the modern
Atlantic-facing power centers of Western Europe while also being much
younger than them. Eastern Europe! is a brief and concise (but
informative) introduction to Eastern Europe and its myriad customs and
history.
Even those knowledgeable about Western Europe often see Eastern Europe
as terra incognito, with a sign on the border declaring "Here be
monsters." Tomek Jankowski's book is a gateway to understanding both
what unites and separates Eastern Europeans from their Western brethren,
and how this vital region has been shaped by but has also left its mark
on Western Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. It
is a reader-friendly guide to a region that is all too often
mischaracterized as remote, insular, and superstitious.
The book comprises three parts, The first sums up modern linguistic,
geographic, and religious contours of Eastern Europe, while the second,
main part delves into the region's history, from the earliest origins of
Europe up to the end of the Cold War, as well as--new to the 2nd
edition--a section on the post-Cold War period. Closing the book is a
section that makes sense of geographical name references -- many cities,
rivers, or regions have different names -- and also includes an Eastern
Europe by Numbers feature that provides charts describing the
populations, politics, and economies of the region today. Throughout are
boxed-off anecdotes (Useless Trivia) describing fascinating aspects of
Eastern European history or culture.
