Goodbye, Eastern Europe
Book description
In light of Russia's aggressive 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Goodbye, Eastern Europe is a crucial, elucidative read, a sweeping epic chronicling a thousand years of strife, war, and bloodshed, from pre-Christianity to the fall of Communism—illuminating the remarkable cultural significance and richness of a place perpetually lost to the margins…
- Coming soon!
Why read it?
1 author picked Goodbye, Eastern Europe as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I'd been planning a trip to parts of Europe I'd never been to before -- Romania, Albania -- and embarked on a crash history reading course. I knew these countries (as defined by borders today) were new; I knew the peoples and their history were ancient; that they emerged from the debris of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires; and that the Soviet era gave way to unrestrained capitalism, McDonald's, Peugeot and Mercedes, KFC and Carrefour.
What I didn't expect is this book. It's not really a history at all, more a collection of illustrative anecdotes. The themes are tied…