A Concise History of the Baltic States (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780521541558)

The Baltic region is frequently neglected in broader histories of Europe and its international significance can be obscured by separate treatments of the various Baltic states. With this wide-ranging survey, Andrejs Plakans presents the first integrated history of three Baltic peoples - Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians - and draws out the common threads to show how it has been shaped by their location in a strategically desirable corner of Europe. Subordinated in turn by Baltic German landholders, the Polish nobility and gentry, and then by Russian and Soviet administrators, the three nations have nevertheless kept a their distinctive identities - significantly retaining three separate languages in an ethnically diverse region. The book traces the countries' evolution from their ninth-century tribal beginnings to their present status as three thriving and separate nation states, focusing particularly on the region's complex twentieth-century history, which culminated in the eventual re-establishment of national sovereignty after 1991.

Author: Andrejs Plakans
ISBN-10: 0521541557
ISBN-13: 9780521541558
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 02/24/2011
Pages: 492
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.47lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.46w x 0.88d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2011