The Story Of Lithuania

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Our People

Author : Ruta Vanagaite
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1538133040
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (381 download)

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Book Synopsis Our People by : Ruta Vanagaite

Download or read book Our People written by Ruta Vanagaite and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-03-15 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A famous Nazi hunter and a descendent of Nazi collaborators team up on a journey to uncover Lithuania’s Holocaust secrets. This remarkable book traces the quest for the truth about the Holocaust in Lithuania by two ostensible enemies: Rūta a descendant of the perpetrators, Efraim a descendant of the victims. Rūta Vanagaitė, a successful Lithuanian writer, was motivated by her recent discoveries that some of her relatives had played a role in the mass murder of Jews and that Lithuanian officials had tried to hide the complicity of local collaborators. Efraim Zuroff, a noted Israeli Nazi hunter, had both professional and personal motivations. He had worked for years to bring Lithuanian war criminals to justice and to compel local authorities to tell the truth about the Holocaust in their country. The facts that his maternal grandparents were born in Lithuania and that he was named for a great-uncle who was murdered with his family in Vilnius with the active help of Lithuanians made his search personal as well. Our People exposes the significant role in implementing the Final Solution played by local political leaders and the prewar Lithuanian administration that remained in place during the Nazi occupation. It also tackles the sensitive issue of the motivation of thousands of ordinary Lithuanians who were complicit in the murder of their Jewish neighbors. At the heart of the book, these are the issues that Rūta and Efraim discuss, debate, and analyze as they crisscross the country to visit dozens of Holocaust mass murder sites in Lithuania and neighboring Belarus. This book follows them on their remarkable journey as they search for neglected graves, interview eyewitnesses, and uncover hints of the rich life that had existed in hundreds of Jewish communities throughout Lithuania.

The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania

Author : Robert I. Frost
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192568140
Total Pages : 650 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania by : Robert I. Frost

Download or read book The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania written by Robert I. Frost and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-16 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of eastern European is dominated by the story of the rise of the Russian empire, yet Russia only emerged as a major power after 1700. For 300 years the greatest power in Eastern Europe was the union between the kingdom of Poland and the grand duchy of Lithuania, one of the longest-lasting political unions in European history. Yet because it ended in the late-eighteenth century in what are misleadingly termed the Partitions of Poland, it barely features in standard accounts of European history. The Making of the Polish-Lithuanian Union 1385-1569 tells the story of the formation of a consensual, decentralised, multinational, and religiously plural state built from below as much as above, that was founded by peaceful negotiation, not war and conquest. From its inception in 1385-6, a vision of political union was developed that proved attractive to Poles, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, and Germans, a union which was extended to include Prussia in the 1450s and Livonia in the 1560s. Despite the often bitter disagreements over the nature of the union, these were nevertheless overcome by a republican vision of a union of peoples in one political community of citizens under an elected monarch. Robert Frost challenges interpretations of the union informed by the idea that the emergence of the sovereign nation state represents the essence of political modernity, and presents the Polish-Lithuanian union as a case study of a composite state. The modern history of Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus cannot be understood without an understanding of the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian union. This volume is the first detailed study of the making of that union ever published in English.

The Nazi's Granddaughter

Author : Silvia Foti
Publisher : Regnery History
ISBN 13 : 1684511089
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nazi's Granddaughter by : Silvia Foti

Download or read book The Nazi's Granddaughter written by Silvia Foti and published by Regnery History. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hero–or Nazi? Silvia Foti was raised on reverent stories about her hero grandfather, a martyr for Lithuanian independence and an unblemished patriot. Jonas Noreika, remembered as “General Storm,” had resisted his country’s German and Soviet occupiers in World War II, surviving two years in a Nazi concentration camp only to be executed in 1947 by the KGB. His granddaughter, growing up in Chicago, was treated like royalty in her tightly knit Lithuanian community. But in 2000, when Silvia traveled to Lithuania for a ceremony honoring her grandfather, she heard a very different story—a “rumor” that her grandfather had been a “Jew-killer.” The Nazi’s Granddaughter is Silvia’s account of her wrenching twenty-year quest for the truth, from a beautiful house confiscated from its Jewish owners, to familial confessions and the Holocaust tour guide who believed that her grandfather had murdered members of his family. A heartbreaking and dramatic story based on exhaustive documentary research and soul-baring interviews, The Nazi’s Granddaughter is an unforgettable journey into World War II history, intensely personal but filled with universal lessons about courage, faith, memory, and justice.

Lithuania Ascending

Author : S. C. Rowell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107658764
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (76 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithuania Ascending by : S. C. Rowell

Download or read book Lithuania Ascending written by S. C. Rowell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1994, studies the rise of a pagan state in late medieval Christendom against a background of crises in Europe.

The Fight for Lithuanian Independence

Author : Charles River
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (618 download)

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Book Synopsis The Fight for Lithuanian Independence by : Charles River

Download or read book The Fight for Lithuanian Independence written by Charles River and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading Modern day Lithuania is a small country bordering the Baltic Sea with a population of less than 3 million people, but despite its relative size, the nation has exerted an influential role on the history of the region. More recently, in the 20th century, Lithuania was caught between much larger powers in two world wars and then the Cold War. Along with neighbors Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania was one of the only states to truly break free of the Soviet Union when the latter dissolved in 1991. Now entrenched in the EU's political and security bloc, Lithuania has seen unprecedented economic growth and prosperity, although Vilnius is still wary of the Russian giant on its doorstep. The end of the Cold War brought Lithuania the independence it had sought for almost 200 years and had only briefly attained in the 1918-39 Interwar Period. This is due in large measure to its location, as Lithuania is wedged between Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the south, Belarus to the east and Latvia to the north. The country's capital city is Vilnius and next largest city is Kaunas. Covering an area of 65,000 square kilometers, although at various stages of its history this was much greater, Lithuania borders the Baltic Sea to the west. Indeed, it is perhaps best to think of the country as a Baltic one, and as with the other Baltic states, Lithuania has been at the crossroads of events involving European, Middle Eastern, and Asian powers. For centuries, its main relationships were with Poland, Sweden, and the burgeoning Rus peoples, later Russia and Ukraine. Subsequently Germany would become an important player in the Baltics, while Russia's Romanov dynasty coveted access to the Baltic sea lanes, inevitably meaning Lithuania would come into its sights. Given everything going on around it, it should come as little surprise that Lithuania's history during the 20th century revolved around the remarkable resilience of its people in the face of aggression and imperialism from first Russia, then Nazi Germany, then the Soviet Union. The Fight for Lithuanian Independence: The History and Legacy of Lithuania in the 20th Century examines the geopolitics of the region, Lithuania's place in it, and the most important events in Lithuania's recent history. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Lithuania like never before.

Litva: The Rise and Fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Author : Norman Davies
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101630825
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis Litva: The Rise and Fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by : Norman Davies

Download or read book Litva: The Rise and Fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania written by Norman Davies and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-02-19 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating history of a Baltic empire’s dominance and decline—excerpted from internationally bestselling author Norman Davies’s Vanished Kingdoms Vanished Kingdoms introduces readers to once-powerful European empires that have left scant traces on the modern map. In this excerpt from his widely acclaimed book, Norman Davies tells the ill-fated story of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Founded in the mid-thirteenth century in one of the continent’s first settled regions, where the oldest of its Indo-European languages is spoken, the Grand Duchy at its peak was the largest country in Europe, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and it commanded yet greater influence after uniting with its western neighbor, the Kingdom of Poland, to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Grand Duchy’s huge territory included the great cities of Kiev, Vilnius, Riga, Minsk, and Brest. Despite being ahead of its time as an elective republic in an age of absolute monarchy, power struggles and foreign incursions led to its ultimate demise and forced partition by Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1795. In this selection from a work The Boston Globe has called “commendably accessible, magisterial, and uncommonly humane,” Davies chronicles these rich yet unfamiliar chapters in the history of modern Lithuania, Belarus, and Latvia with his signature acuity and verve.

1939

Author : Šarūnas Liekis
Publisher : Rodopi
ISBN 13 : 9042027622
Total Pages : 403 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis 1939 by : Šarūnas Liekis

Download or read book 1939 written by Šarūnas Liekis and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 2010 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This gripping and well-documented account of the history of the town of Vilnius and its surrounding region from the Polish ultimatum of March 1938, which forced Lithuania to open diplomatic relations with Poland, to the incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union in June 1940 is set against the evolution of Lithuania's relations with her neighbours during this crucial period. It is a major contribution to the outbreak of war in September 1939 and the subsequent evolution of Nazi Soviet relations. Prof. Liekis presents a remarkable history based on archival sources never before utilized in any English-language study. In revealing the geopolitical, ideological, economic, social and ethnic dimensions of an immense tragedy in the heart of Europe, the author provides a new perspective on the unraveling of a society and nation during the initial days of World War II as prelude to the most violent period in European history."--Publisher's description.

Lithuanian Beer

Author : Lars Marius Garshol
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781502738523
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (385 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithuanian Beer by : Lars Marius Garshol

Download or read book Lithuanian Beer written by Lars Marius Garshol and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-11-08 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lithuania has one of the most interesting beer cultures on earth, but it's a beer culture that is almost wholly unknown outside the country itself. This guide explains what is so special about Lithuanian beer and helps you choose the right places to go and the right beers to drink. I've travelled to Lithuania a number of times over the last four years to learn as much as I can about Lithuanian beer, and this book summarizes what I've learned. It describes the various styles of beer made in Lithuania, the main breweries, and where to find the beers. It also gives some cultural, linguistic, and historic background.

Money, Power, and Influence in Eighteenth-Century Lithuania

Author : Adam Teller
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804799873
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

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Book Synopsis Money, Power, and Influence in Eighteenth-Century Lithuania by : Adam Teller

Download or read book Money, Power, and Influence in Eighteenth-Century Lithuania written by Adam Teller and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-21 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has often been claimed that Jews have a penchant for capitalism and capitalist economic activity. With this book, Adam Teller challenges that assumption. Examining how Jews achieved their extraordinary success within the late feudal economy of the eighteenth-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he shows that economic success did not necessarily come through any innate entrepreneurial skills, but through identifying and exploiting economic niches in the pre-modern economy—in particular, the monopoly on the sale of grain alcohol. Jewish economic activity was a key factor in the development of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and it greatly enhanced the incomes, and thereby the social and political status, of the noble magnates, including the powerful Radziwiłł family. In turn, with the magnate's backing, Jews were able to leverage their own economic success into high status in estate society. Over time, relations within Jewish society began to change, putting less value on learning and pedigree and more on wealth and connections with the estate owners. This groundbreaking book exemplifies how the study of Jewish economic history can shed light on a crucial mechanism of Jewish social integration. In the Polish-Lithuanian setting, Jews were simultaneously a despised religious minority and key economic players, with a consequent standing that few could afford to ignore.

The History of Lithuania

Author : Alfonsas Eidintas
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9786094373275
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (732 download)

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Book Synopsis The History of Lithuania by : Alfonsas Eidintas

Download or read book The History of Lithuania written by Alfonsas Eidintas and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

We Are Here

Author : Ellen Cassedy
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 0803240228
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis We Are Here by : Ellen Cassedy

Download or read book We Are Here written by Ellen Cassedy and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ellen Cassedy’s longing to recover the Yiddish she’d lost with her mother’s death eventually led her to Lithuania, once the “Jerusalem of the North.” As she prepared for her journey, her uncle, sixty years after he’d left Lithuania in a boxcar, made a shocking disclosure about his wartime experience, and an elderly man from her ancestral town made an unsettling request. Gradually, what had begun as a personal journey broadened into a larger exploration of how the people of this country, Jews and non-Jews alike, are confronting their past in order to move forward into the future. How does a nation—how do successor generations, moral beings—overcome a bloody past? How do we judge the bystanders, collaborators, perpetrators, rescuers, and ourselves? These are the questions Cassedy confronts in We Are Here, one woman’s exploration of Lithuania’s Jewish history combined with a personal exploration of her own family’s place in it. Digging through archives with the help of a local whose motives are puzzling to her; interviewing natives, including an old man who wants to “speak to a Jew” before he dies; discovering the complications encountered by a country that endured both Nazi and Soviet occupation—Cassedy finds that it’s not just the facts of history that matter, but what we choose to do with them.

The Golden Age of the Lithuanian Yeshivas

Author : Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky
Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253058511
Total Pages : 516 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

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Book Synopsis The Golden Age of the Lithuanian Yeshivas by : Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky

Download or read book The Golden Age of the Lithuanian Yeshivas written by Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Golden Age of the Lithuanian Yeshivas tells the story of the last chapter of Jewish rabbinical schools in Eastern Europe, from the eve of World War I to the outbreak of World War II. The Lithuanian yeshiva established a rigorous standard for religious education in the early 1800s that persisted for over a century and continues to this day. Although dramatically reduced and forced into exile in Russia and Ukraine during World War I, the yeshivas survived the war, with yeshiva heads and older students forming the nucleus of the institutions. These scholars rehabilitated the yeshivas in their original locations and quickly returned to their regular activities. Moreover, they soon began to expand into areas now empty of yeshivas in lands occupied by Hasidic populations in Poland and even into the lands that would soon become Israel. During the economic depression of the 1930s, students struggled for food and their leaders journeyed abroad in search for funding, but their determination and commitment to the yeshiva system continued. Despite the material difficulties that prevailed in the yeshivas, there was consistently a full occupancy of students, most of them in their twenties. Young men from all over the free world joined these yeshivas, which were considered the best training programs for the religious professions and rabbinical ordination. The outbreak of World War II and the Soviet occupation of first eastern Poland and then Lithuania marked the beginning of the end of the Yeshivas, however, and the Holocaust ensured the final destruction of the venerable institution. The Golden Age of the Lithuanian Yeshivas is the first book-length work on the modern history of the Lithuanian yeshivas published in English. Through exhaustive historical research of every yeshiva, Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky brings to light for the first time the stories, lives, and inner workings of this long-lost world.

Lithuanian Chicago

Author : Justin G. Riskus
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0738598542
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (385 download)

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Book Synopsis Lithuanian Chicago by : Justin G. Riskus

Download or read book Lithuanian Chicago written by Justin G. Riskus and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, there are more than 100,000 Lithuanians in Chicago, making the city home to the greatest concentration of Lithuanians outside of the country itself. Their presence in Chicago began in 1834 and drastically increased during the 20th century as immigrants and their descendants sought work in the stockyards and other industries. Lithuanians in Chicago were dedicated to celebrating and preserving their unique culture, evident in its churches, schools, museums, and community centers in neighborhoods such as Bridgeport and Marquette Park. They also maintained ties to the homeland and played an important role in Lithuania's struggles for independence throughout the 20th century. Many prominent Lithuanian Americans are from the "City of the Big Shoulders," including football great Dick Butkus, actor John C. Reilly, and director Robert Zemeckis. The former president of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, was a resident of Chicagoland for nearly 50 years.

The Unknown War

Author : Arūnas Streikus
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000595145
Total Pages : 167 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis The Unknown War by : Arūnas Streikus

Download or read book The Unknown War written by Arūnas Streikus and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The armed anti-Soviet resistance movement which arose in the second half of 1944 in Lithuania, as Soviet forces began to reoccupy the Baltic countries and Galicia, sparking a nearly decade-long fierce military conflict, has yet to become established in the common narrative of contemporary European history. However, controversy regarding the nature of this `war after the war' and its legacies constitutes one of the core elements in the contemporary information warfare waged by Russia against its neighbouring countries. The origins of various distortions surrounding the story of the partisan war in the western borderlands of the Soviet Union can even be traced to the final stages of that war, when Soviet propaganda sought to discredit the campaign as a battle waged by criminal elements. In this example of a historical event charged with controversial memories and geopolitical connotations, a thorough academic approach is extraordinarily instrumental. Responding to the growing need for historical research capable of providing international readers with the latest findings in the thematic field under question, six scholars from Vilnius University address the diverse aspects of this phenomenon as well as its role in the culture and politics of memory. Toward this end, this analysis – among the most comprehensive explorations of this history to date – is being released in both Lithuanian and English.

White Field, Black Sheep

Author : Daiva Markelis
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226505316
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (265 download)

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Book Synopsis White Field, Black Sheep by : Daiva Markelis

Download or read book White Field, Black Sheep written by Daiva Markelis and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Her parents never really explained what a D.P. was. Years later Daiva Markelis learned that “displaced person” was the designation bestowed upon European refugees like her mom and dad who fled communist Lithuania after the war. Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, though, Markelis had only heard the name T.P., since her folks pronounced the D as a T: “In first grade we had learned about the Plains Indians, who had lived in tent-like dwellings made of wood and buffalo skin called teepees. In my childish confusion, I thought that perhaps my parents weren’t Lithuanian at all, but Cherokee. I went around telling people that I was the child of teepees.” So begins this touching and affectionate memoir about growing up as a daughter of Lithuanian immigrants. Markelis was raised during the 1960s and 1970s in a household where Lithuanian was the first language. White Field, Black Sheep derives much of its charm from this collision of old world and new: a tough but cultured generation that can’t quite understand the ways of America and a younger one weaned on Barbie dolls and The Brady Bunch, Hostess cupcakes and comic books, The Monkees and Captain Kangaroo. Throughout, Markelis recalls the amusing contortions of language and identity that animated her childhood. She also humorously recollects the touchstones of her youth, from her First Communion to her first game of Twister. Ultimately, she revisits the troubles that surfaced in the wake of her assimilation into American culture: the constricting expectations of her family and community, her problems with alcoholism and depression, and her sometimes contentious but always loving relationship with her mother. Deftly recreating the emotional world of adolescence, but overlaying it with the hard-won understanding of adulthood, White Field, Black Sheep is a poignant and moving memoir—a lively tale of this Lithuanian-American life.

Provisionally Yours

Author : Antanas Sileika
Publisher : Biblioasis
ISBN 13 : 1771962860
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (719 download)

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Book Synopsis Provisionally Yours by : Antanas Sileika

Download or read book Provisionally Yours written by Antanas Sileika and published by Biblioasis. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AS HEARD ON CBC'S THE NEXT CHAPTER WITH SHELAGH ROGERS After World War I and the collapse of Czarist Russia, former counterintelligence officer Justas Adamonis returns to Lithuania, a fragment of the shattered Empire. He's not entirely sure what he’ll find. His parents are dead, he hasn’t seen his sister since she was a teenager, and Kaunas has become the political center of the emerging state. He’s barely off the train when he’s recruited back into service, this time for the nascent government eager to secure his loyalty and experience. Though the administration may be new, its problems are familiar, and Adamonis quickly finds himself ensnared in a dangerous web of political corruption and personal betrayal. Antanas Sileika's Provisionally Yours is a vivid depiction of realpolitik—as well as an unforgettable story about treachery and the enduring human capacity for love.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1733-1795

Author : Richard Butterwick
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 030025220X
Total Pages : 506 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1733-1795 by : Richard Butterwick

Download or read book The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1733-1795 written by Richard Butterwick and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-05 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new assessment of the "vanished kingdom" of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth--one which recognizes its achievements before its destruction Richard Butterwick tells the compelling story of the last decades of one of Europe's largest and least understood polities: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Drawing on the latest research, Butterwick vividly portrays the turbulence the Commonwealth experienced. Far from seeing it as a failed state, he shows the ways in which it overcame the stranglehold of Russia and briefly regained its sovereignty, the crowning success of which took place on 3 May 1791--the passing of the first Constitution of modern Europe.