'Do not rush to bid farewell to eastern Europe until reading this book. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this very personal story of the place that one can’t find on the map pays tribute to the origins of the experiences, cultures and ideas that continue to shape political and ideological battles of the modern world.' Serhii Plokhy An epic history of the ‘other’ Europe, a place of conflict and coexistence, of faith and folklore 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.

zlib/History/European History/Jacob Mikanowski/Goodbye Eastern Europe_27887915.mobi

An Intimate History of a Divided Land

Mikanowski, Jacob

Rock the Boat

Point Blank

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

2023

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, this very personal story of the place that one can't find on the map pays tribute to the origins of the experiences, cultures and ideas that continue to shape political and ideological battles of the modern world.' 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

Eastern Europe Is Disappearing. Not Off The Map Of Course, But As An Idea. Today It Calls To Mind A Jumble Of Post-soviet States Paved Over With C&a And Mcdonald’s. We Could Describe Eastern Europe As A Group Of Twenty Nations – But Why? For Most Of Their History, They Weren’t Nations At All. The Region Is More Than The Sum Total Of Its Annexations, Invasions And Independence Declarations. Eastern Europe Abounds With Peoples Tied Together By Tragicomic Twists Of Fate. Lives Could Be Turned Upside Down By Distant Decrees From Vienna Or Istanbul, Or Just As Easily By A Stubborn Bureaucrat In Your Village. In Twentieth-century Knust, You Could Live In Six Different Countries Without Ever Leaving Your House. You Could Get Married Any Day, But Buying A Teakettle Was A Singular Event. Goodbye Eastern Europe Is A Eulogy For A World We Are Losing, A Vanishing Culture Of Polytheism, Vampires, Sacred Groves, And Movable Borders.

2024-02-26