Eastern Europe!: Everything You Need to Know About the History (and More) of a Region that Shaped Our World and Still Does

The surprise here is that this book is interesting, fun sometimes and reads quickly. All that good stuff. And, it's not just for the specialty reader. Jankowski fills the pages with things we definitely should know and things we could live without--- but are interesting nonetheless. These extraneous tidbits break up the "history" with a bit of trivia. I wanted to read this because recently I had been reading "American" authors of Eastern European background ( Aleksandar Hemon is one), and I thought that I knew next to nothing about Eastern Europe. I was right! I started in the middle of this book ( You can start anywhere.) reading about the Second World War. My college European history had done me no good. I found out that I didn't even know that between 48 and 70 million were killed during the war! Warsaw was destroyed almost completely. ( Paris was on the chopping block and escaped decimation because Hitler was disobeyed toward the end of the war.) As alluded to above , this book can be read randomly. The charts and graphs that accompany the text are wonderful and give a really good idea of the total picture of Eastern Europe while highlighting individual countries. This can, and will, be used as a reference book over and over again. Some of the facts are just too much to subsume in one or two readings; it's packed with information--- up to date information. What a way to learn about the past with Jankowski's easy-flowing writing!

Readers of a certain age tend to wax leery of titles with exclamation points and the phrase "Everything You Need To Know..." about anything, but in Jankowski's case it would be well to overcome any hesitation and jump right in. The payback is education and entertainment in about equal helpings. Jankowski is dead-on right in his estimation that the majority of even reasonably well-educated Americans are pretty much dirt-ignorant of Eastern Europe beyond the names of a few post-WWI political entities. The swirl of languages and ethnicities in the region over the past 3000 or so years is daunting to say the least. Jankowski is masterful at organizing and presenting the major name brands and milestones in a well-organized and quick-paced narrative. He wears his learning lightly and is effective at preventing a predictable descent into the catalog of names, dates, and battles that the region's past could easily comprise. The in-line pronunciation help is a techniques that should be mandatory in such works. If I had a quibble it would be that the "Useless Trivia" sidebars should be renamed - their content is far from useless in the context and frequently help the reader orient himself with more comfortable territory by connecting the unfamiliar names, places, etc. with "the west" (with which he is presumably better acquainted, but who knows?) A very valuable and thoroughly enjoyable book, recommended for anyone who wants or needs to know more about the fascinating region, its peoples, languages and cultures.

History books can be very dry, especially when covering long periods of time many countries and large geographic areas. This one is not. Written in a light and entertaining style, it nevertheless more than adequately covers huge territory, both in a physical and historical sense. My wife had read a couple of books about Eastern/Central Europe before starting this one. Her response was immediate: "Thank God for something you can actually read and enjoy". The book is organized for major historical periods, and then broken down by area. This is helpful, especially since what is happening in one area may be unrelated to events in another. Or not. It just depends on the time. But at the end of each section the reader should have a good idea of the events transpiring in all the areas. This may seem trivial but it's actually quite a feat. In addition there are small interesting tidbits sprinkled throughout the sections -- like a short narrative about "Wojtek the Bear" (a real bear) who served as an official soldier with the free Polish army during the Italian Campaign of 1943-1944. My only quibble is I would have liked more maps for each period since I'm not familiar with all the geographic areas. But this is a small point. Overall this is a great book. Highly recommended.

Everything you need to know about the history of eastern Europe...and more. This is the most readable and comprehensive history of a region of the world that is, for most westerners, shrouded in mystery and yet highly relevant today. In this highly entertaining book, Mr. Jankowski pulls back that curtain of mystery and takes the reader on a romp through the region's deep and meaningful history. Along the way, he takes detours- "Useless Trivia"- to add dimension and color to an already colorful history. Whether you anticipate a visit to eastern Europe or just want to expand your knowledge of that part of the world and it's relation to the the west, this book is a must-read. Mr. Jankowski's research is thorough and flawless. Read this book and you will see that he has an uncanny ability to analyze, comprehend and then explain-what many would consider a complicated and tricky history- in a way that anyone can understand. This is a must-read history that will give you a better understanding of a region that has played a critical role in the history and development of European and western history.

Books on Eastern Europe that provide an accessible overview weren't that easy to find. So glad I took a chance on this one. Clear, humorous and full of stuff that I found useful including maps, discussion of topography and the many people, religions, and history of the area. And, the area is vast and includes many countries and I now have an idea of how they came to be in today's global map. Great resource on the area and the book doesn't take itself too seriously. A nice complement to "The Balkans" another book that I have read on the area.

Reads more like a novel than a tour guidebook. I enjoyed reading the history of the countries I was about to visit. Eastern Europe is a wonderful part of the world and to know the history makes the journey so much more meaningful. I am finding it even more interesting after returning from Central Europe (In the countries I visited people do not like to refer to it as "Eastern Europe" but rather "Central Europe").

I cannot say enough about this book, and how much I learned as I made my way through its pages full of facts and anecdotes. Tomek Jankowski speaks from his own personal experience as a Pole now transplanted to New Hampshire. I have spent considerable time in Central and Eastern Europe - Poland, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, the Czech Republic, Croatia. Mr. Jankowski's comprehensive overview of the history of these lands helped to put into a much clearer perspective the things that I experienced while visiting and traveling through this intriguing part of the world. I would call "Eastern Europe" the least boring history book I have read, because the author intersperses exposition of facts with fascinating short anecdotes that he calls USELESS TRIVIA. These boxed vignettes are far from trivial, for they illuminate with a personal touch the broader historical events that are being described and explained. This book is useful for anyone planning travel to Central and Eastern Europe, as well as to those who call this part of the world their home.

In a light and inviting manner, this novel provides a touch of history (religion, culture, political influences) that has helped shape the Eastern Europe of today. Good for a quick introduction into Eastern Europe.

Thought this was a great read, funny and educating, enjoyed it very much and learned a bit as well. I believe the author is well versed in the subject. Buy the book, well worth it.

I came to this book when searching for some sort of history to understand the aftermath of the break-up of the Hapsburg Empire, and the political landscape in Eastern Europe in the years leading to World War II. I also wanted to learn a little more about the history of the various states which have joined the EU in recent years. The book is a general history of Eastern Europe from the end of the Roman Empire to the aftermath of the Cold War. It is a long book (500 pages excluding footnotes) but, in my view, quite an easy read. It is written in relatively clear and straightforward prose, requires no prior knowledge of the subject and is extremely instructive. The author is a Hungarian ex-pat writer now based in the US, presumably of Slavonic ancestry from his surname, who has studied in Poland. He does not say precisely which languages he speaks but based on various comments in the book, it seems to be several and from his book, he appears to have a broad spectrum of knowledge across the region. The book is structured as follows. Following the quite amusing cover illustration of Europa (as a Russian matryoshka doll) and the Bull (i.e. Eastern Europe is Europe too!), and a short Frequently Asked Questions section, we then have a valuable introductory section with languages, alphabets, geography, religion and other key factors which unite and divide the region. So for example, the Slavonic languages are described in their three groups (Western, Eastern, Southern) and we learn about the other Indo-European languages such as Romanian (Romance, like French, Spanish or Italian), the Baltic languages and Albanian, as well as Hungarian which is a non-Indo-European language. Various maps help the reader’s understanding. Before moving onto the main chronological chapters, there is a brief canter through pre-history and the major ancient empire impacting on the region. “The region” is defined as stretching from the Baltic states in the North to the Balkans in the South, and roughly from Eastern Germany in the West into European Russia in the East. The main body of the book then follows chronological chapters, of which there are nine, starting at about 500AD. At this point, Western Europe has seen the demise of the Western Roman Empire, but for Eastern Europe, the Eastern or Byzantine Empire was alive and kicking, so we start with the early Slavs, the Avars, the Bulgars etc in the shadow Eastern Rome and move onwards from there. Each chapter describes a period and is split into sectors detailing the activities and fortunes of individual peoples. There are also a series of “special inserts” between chapters dealing with certain peoples and other topics. As well as these longer inserts, there are boxes throughout with “useless trivia” (this is what the book calls them, not me). The chapters cover the early and later middle ages, the early modern era and the “long 19th century”). Then there is good coverage of the World Wars and inter-war period. The history of the Cold War is also very strong. In addition, the reader gets a good idea of the transition from the late 19th century, where the region was dominated by the Hapsburg, Russian, Second German and Ottoman Empires to the position in 1939 when a new patchwork of different states existed, most of which suffered further border changes in the aftermath of World War II. It is often a sad tale to read of much suffering, and for one, made me feel grateful for the era of peace that we enjoy in most of Europe today. Overall, I found this book highly instructive and enjoyable. The writer’s style is light-hearted and entertaining. He is also highly helpful with pronunciation with a simplified phonetic guide for those of us not endowed with knowledge of, well, a quite large number of languages. The structure of the book (chronological then sections dealing with individual states) means that if the reader does lose the thread or forget “how we got here”, it is easy to refer back, and also it is possible to dip into the book or use is as a reference book. The book concludes with some appendices: place names (different names for the same places); Eastern Europe in numbers (all sorts of statistics – population, economics etc) and lastly a recipe for Mrs Jankowska’s homemade pierogis (Polish-style dumplings). I think the author has produced a really useful book and it is a shame that it does not seem to be widely distributed in Europe (price on cover is in USD), although fortunately Amazon seem to be carrying it in stock.

Ein bisschen teuer, ist aber dafür ein sehr detailiertes und umfangreiches Buch, macht Spaß zum Lesen. Leider einige Druckfehler in dieser Ausgabe.

O livro apresenta a história do Leste Europeu, a partir de 500 a.C até os dias atuais. É um livro de História recheado de bom humor, mapas e gráficos. Informativo sem ser entediante. Abrange informações acerca das religiões, línguas e geografia. Agradará aqueles que buscam informações robustas e os que desejam uma leitura recreativa. Essencial para se compreender como o Leste Europeu moldou o mundo ocidental.

Qu'il me soit permis d'ajouter un commentaire francophone et admiratif à propos du livre de Jankowski. Sans aucun essoufflement Jankowski nous transporte depuis l'antiquité jusqu'à nos jours à travers l'Europe centrale et orientale. Il y aborde des histoires nationales oubliées et, il faut le dire, généralement considérées comme de peu d'importance par les Européens de l' ouest. Jankowski aborde en 9 chapitres l'histoire de chaque région. Comme celles-ci interagissent entre-elles, le lecteur n'est jamais perdu, et conserve le fil de la grande histoire tout en bénéficiant de la prodigieuse érudition de l'auteur qui rend son texte vivant en puisant dans l'extraordinaire diversité historique et culturelle de l'Europe. Les encadrés "useless trivia" ressentis comme gênants au début, car ils coupent le fil de la lecture, finissent par devenir addictifs tant ils ne sont ni "inutiles" ni "triviaux" mais au contraire constitués d'information profondes et hautement significatives. A lire absolument par ceux qui aiment l'Europe. La vraie.