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
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/28/2011
Series: Cambridge Concise Histories
Pages: 492
Weight: 1.47lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.46w x 0.88d
ISBN: 9780521541558


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

About the Author
Plakans, Andrejs: - Andrejs Plakans is Professor Emeritus at the Department of History, Iowa State University. His previous publications include The Latvians: A Short History (1995) and the Historical Dictionary of Latvia, 2nd edition (2008).