Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land

Jacob Mikanowski

ISBN 10: 0861542592 / ISBN 13: 9780861542598

Editore: Oneworld Publications, 2022

2023. Hardcover. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Codice articolo V9780861542598

Riassunto:

An epic history of the ‘other’ Europe, a place of conflict and coexistence, of faith and folklore.

‘Do not rush to bid farewell to eastern Europe until reading this book. Meticulously researched and beautifully written.’ Serhii Plokhy

Eastern Europe is more than the sum total of its annexations, invasions and independence declarations. From the Baltics to the Balkans, from Prague to Kiev, the area exuded a tragicomic character like no other.

This is a paean for a disappearing world of movable borders, sacred groves and syncretism. And an invitation to not forget.

***

A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

‘An insightful chronicle… distilling more than a decade of research, [Mikanowski] carefully argues that if something marks out Europe’s eastern half, it is not homogeneity but wild, glorious diversity.’ Economist

‘A lively and sweeping history.’ Washington Post

‘Goodbye Eastern Europe is a thematic history of a divided half-continent, a goulash of imperial histories, shifting frontiers and heartbreaking family stories, spiced with myth and poet-martyrs, and deeply satisfying on the palate… vital and informed.’ TLS

Dalla quarta di copertina: 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 of history.

Eastern Europe, the moniker, has gone out of fashion since the fall of the Soviet Union. Ask someone now, and they might tell you that Estonia is in the Baltics, or Scandinavia, that Slovakia is in Central Europe and Croatia is in the Eastern Adriatic or the Balkans. In fact, Eastern Europe is a place that barely exists at all, except in cultural memory. Yet it remains a powerful marker of identity for many, with a fragmented and wide history, defined by texts, myths, and memories of centuries of hardship and suffering.

Goodbye, Eastern Europe is a masterful narrative about a place that has survived the brink of being forgotten. Beginning with long-lost accounts of early pagan life, Mikanowski offers a kaleidoscopic tour recounting the rise and fall of the great empires―Ottoman, Hapsburg, and Russian―the dawn of the modern era, the ravages of Fascism and Communism, as well as Capitalism, the birth of the modern nation-state, and more. A student of literature, history, and the ghosts of his own family’s past, Mikanowski paints a magisterial portrait of a place united by diversity, and eclecticism, and a people with the shared story of being the dominated rather than the dominating.

The result is a loving and ebullient celebration of the distinctive and vibrant cultures that stubbornly persisted at the margins of Western Europe, and a powerful corrective that re-centers our understanding of how the modern Western world took shape.

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History ...
Casa editrice: Oneworld Publications
Data di pubblicazione: 2022
Legatura: Rilegato
Condizione: New