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

Foreword by BBC News Central Europe Correspondent Nick Thorpe

Copublished with Academic Studies Press

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PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION

“A sweeping history of Eastern Europe …
a commendable feat.” —Library Journal

NONFICTION: History ‖ Travel ‖ Political Science
30 November 2021 | copublished with Academic Studies Press | trade paperback original
price: $29.95 | 978-0-9973169-2-6 | 742 pages | 9.21 x 6.14 | North America & Open Market

MORE PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION

“This broad overview describes the nearly indefinable region that, until the Berlin Wall’s sudden fall, was shrouded behind the Iron Curtain—nations and peoples living amid constantly shifting boundaries in a centuries-old battleground between East and West... . [Jankowski] displays an ease and familiarity with cultural minutiae while briskly covering intense topics of genocide, religion, and Communist implosion…. Jankowski’s history of the region serves as a welcome introduction or refresher course.” —Publishers Weekly

“A brief, concise, and informative introduction to the less-known part of the old continent. No country is left out: from Albania to Moldova, from Romania to Poland, from Bulgaria to Lithuania. No historic period is overlooked: from the dark ages of prehistory to the Middle Ages, from the Renaissance to the two world wars, from the Soviet period to the collapse of communism. This 600-page book can serve as both an introduction to Eastern Europe and a refresher to its intricate history. It is accessible and stimulating reading that includes humor, pictures, maps, tables, charts, and even poems and recipes. A good resource for teachers, students, and all those with roots in this part of the world.” —CHOICE

“[The] colloquial style succeeds in making this an accessible, if thorough, history of pretty much everywhere from East Berlin to the Black Sea back to 500CE... . This should be recommended reading for anyone heading to the former Eastern Bloc.” —Traveller, easyJet’s inflight magazine

“An entertaining and fact-filled historical survey of a fascinating and important part of the world all too infrequently covered ... for academics, students, and the general public alike, leading the reader on an approximately 2000-year odyssey stretching from the Balkans in the south to the Baltic region in the north.” —Jeff Pennington, Executive Director, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

ABOUT THE BOOK

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tomek Jankowski worked, studied, and traveled in Eastern Europe for years starting in the late 1980s. Holding degrees in history and economics, he is a senior analyst at a research firm where he has authored numerous reports focusing on the region. He and his wife live in Pembroke, New Hampshire.