Witnesses To Interwar Subcarpathian Rus

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Witnesses to Interwar Subcarpathian Rus’

Author : Patricia A. Krafcik
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1666931713
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (669 download)

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Book Synopsis Witnesses to Interwar Subcarpathian Rus’ by : Patricia A. Krafcik

Download or read book Witnesses to Interwar Subcarpathian Rus’ written by Patricia A. Krafcik and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-07-15 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the midst of a contentious atmosphere of the interwar period, the far-eastern province of Subcarpathian Rus’ attracted the personal curiosity and professional attention of Russian ethnographer and theoretician Petr Bogatyrev and Czech journalist-writer Ivan Olbracht. Both traveled extensively in the region and immersed themselves deeply in the life and culture of the local residents, Carpatho-Rusyns, and Hasidic Jews. Witnesses to Interwar Subcarpathian Rus’: The Sojourns of Petr Bogatyrev and Ivan Olbracht explores for the first time in English the legacy they bequeathed in their respective work: Bogatyrev as an apolitical ethnographic collector and theoretician and Olbracht as a passionately committed Communist whose reports and brilliant stories from the region, including Nikola Šuhaj, Brigand, and The Sorrowful Eyes of Hannah Karadjic capture a glimpse of a world destined to change radically as a result of the ravages of war.

Redrawing Nations

Author : Philipp Ther
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742510944
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Redrawing Nations by : Philipp Ther

Download or read book Redrawing Nations written by Philipp Ther and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After World War II, some 12 million Germans, 3 million Poles and Ukrainians, and tens of thousands of Hungarians were expelled from their homes and forced to migrate to their supposed countries of origin. Using freshly available materials from Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Czechoslovak, German, British, and American archives, the contributors to this book provide a sweeping, detailed account of the turmoil caused by the huge wave of forced migration during the nascent Cold War. The book also documents the deep and lasting political, social, and economic consequences of this traumatic time, raising difficult questions about the effect of forced migration on postwar reconstruction, the rise of Communism, and the growing tensions between Western Europe and the Eastern bloc. Those interested in European Cold-War history will find this book indispensable for understanding the profound--but hitherto little known--upheavals caused by the massive ethnic cleansing that took place from 1944 to 1948.

The Ransom of the Jews

Author : Radu Ioanid
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1538140756
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (381 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ransom of the Jews by : Radu Ioanid

Download or read book The Ransom of the Jews written by Radu Ioanid and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-23 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After 1948, the 370,000 Jews of Romania who survived the Holocaust became one of the main sources of immigration for the new state of Israel as almost all left their homeland to settle in Palestine and Israel. Romania's decision to allow its Jews to leave was baldly practical: Israel paid for them, and Romania wanted influence in the Middle East. For its part, Israel was rescuing a community threatened by economic and cultural extinction and at the same time strengthening itself with a massive infusion of new immigrants. Radu Ioanid traces the secret history of the longest and most expensive ransom arrangement in recent times, a hidden exchange that lasted until the fall of the Communist regime. Including a wealth of recently declassified documents from the archives of the Romanian secret police, this updated edition follows Israel’s long and expensive ransom arrangement with Communist Romania. Ioanid uncovers the elaborate mechanisms that made it successful for decades, the shadowy figures responsible, and the secret channels of communication and payment. As suspenseful as a Cold-War thriller, his book tells the full, startling story of an unprecedented slave trade.

With Their Backs to the Mountains

Author : Paul Robert Magocsi
Publisher : Central European University Press
ISBN 13 : 9633861071
Total Pages : 564 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (338 download)

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Book Synopsis With Their Backs to the Mountains by : Paul Robert Magocsi

Download or read book With Their Backs to the Mountains written by Paul Robert Magocsi and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a history of a stateless people, the Carpatho-Rusyns, and their historic homeland, Carpathian Rus', located in the heart of central Europe. At the present, when it is fashionable to speak of nationalities as "imagined communities" or as transnational constructs "created" by intellectuals\ elites who may live in the historic "national" homeland or in the diaspora, Carpatho-Rusyns provide an ideal example of a people made—or some would say still being made—before our very eyes. The book traces the evolution of Carpathian Rus' from earliest pre-historic times to the present and the complex manner in which a distinct Carpatho-Rusyn people, since the mid-nineteenth century, came into being, disappeared, and then re-appeared in the wake of the revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of Communist rule in central and eastern Europe.

Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain

Author : Mark Kramer
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739181866
Total Pages : 583 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain by : Mark Kramer

Download or read book Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain written by Mark Kramer and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-11-22 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cold War began in Europe in the mid-1940s and ended there in 1989. Notions of a “global Cold War” are useful in describing the wide impact and scope of the East-West divide after World War II, but first and foremost the Cold War was about the standoff in Europe. The Soviet Union established a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe in the mid-1940s that later became institutionalized in the Warsaw Pact, an organization that was offset by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) led by the United States. The fundamental division of Europe persisted for forty years, coming to an end only when Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe dissolved. Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain: The Cold War and East-Central Europe, 1945–1989, edited by Mark Kramer and Vít Smetana, consists of cutting-edge essays by distinguished experts who discuss the Cold War in Europe from beginning to end, with a particular focus on the countries that were behind the iron curtain. The contributors take account of structural conditions that helped generate the Cold War schism in Europe, but they also ascribe agency to local actors as well as to the superpowers. The chapters dealing with the end of the Cold War in Europe explain not only why it ended but also why the events leading to that outcome occurred almost entirely peacefully.

The A to Z of Belarus

Author : Vitali Silitski
Publisher : Scarecrow Press
ISBN 13 : 1461731747
Total Pages : 471 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (617 download)

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Book Synopsis The A to Z of Belarus by : Vitali Silitski

Download or read book The A to Z of Belarus written by Vitali Silitski and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2010-04-07 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political map of Eastern Europe changed dramatically in December 1991 when the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine huddled together in a Bielavieza Forest retreat and decided to dissolve the 15 union republics, which composed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). One of those republics was the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). A United Nations member since 1945, Belarus has a rich cultural heritage that is seen as a promising base for the development of a solid national identity and for real independence. It is this cultural heritage and sense of history that nourish the ongoing efforts of the nationalist minority, as well as the larger democratic opposition, to resist the regime of President Alaksandr Luka?enka who is bent on restoring ties to Russia. Thus Belarus, with its burdens of the past and potential for the future, finds itself in a struggle that will affect not only its own destiny, but also the international structure of Eastern Europe. The A to Z of Belarus—through its chronology, introductory essays, appendixes, map, bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects—traces Belarus' history and provides a compass for the direction the country is heading.

War on the Eve of Nations

Author : Vladimir Shirogorov
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1793622418
Total Pages : 519 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis War on the Eve of Nations by : Vladimir Shirogorov

Download or read book War on the Eve of Nations written by Vladimir Shirogorov and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In War on the Eve of Nations: Conflicts and Militaries in Eastern Europe, 1450–1500, Vladimir Shirogorov examines how Eastern European armed forces produced critical geopolitical changes in the region. Analyzing the interactions between changes in warfare and the nation-building process, Shirogorov focuses on developments regarding the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Muscovy, Sweden, the Kazan Khanate, and Ottoman Turkey.

Environmentalism in Central and Southeastern Europe

Author : Hrvoje Petric
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1498527655
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (985 download)

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Book Synopsis Environmentalism in Central and Southeastern Europe by : Hrvoje Petric

Download or read book Environmentalism in Central and Southeastern Europe written by Hrvoje Petric and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-03-17 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consisting of 12 chapters, the book presents the rise and development of environmentalism, environmental history as a discipline, and the history of environmental movements in the Central and South Eastern European region from an international point of view. The chapters—written by scholars from Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Turkey—cover a wide range of topics including the creation of protected areas, increasing environmental consciousness, the evolution of humanity’s relationship toward the environment, and perceptions of environmentalism by different disciplines. This international approach highlights the region’s complex development from the end of the eighteenth century through the twentieth century, with its unique blend of traditions. Three historically different traditions—the Habsburg, Ottoman and Venetian—converge in Central and South Eastern Europe, and this book emphasizes the subtleties of these sometimes intertwined traditions. The focus of the book varies according to both the different geographical environments characteristic of the region and the protagonists who actively participated in changing relationships toward the environment. However, what does not vary and is common to all the chapters is the historical approach, since the process has continuity, which the book accentuates. In geographical terms, the region that is the focus of the book, Central and South Eastern Europe, is the contact zone of the Alps, Danube, Adriatic and partially the North Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Throughout history, it was also the contact zone of the Habsburg, Ottoman and Venetian traditions. Those realities have resulted in a unique blending and intertwining of traditions and, therefore, relationships with and perceptions of the environment.

The Rise and Fall of Socialist Yugoslavia

Author : Sergej Flere
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1498541976
Total Pages : 365 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (985 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of Socialist Yugoslavia by : Sergej Flere

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of Socialist Yugoslavia written by Sergej Flere and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-09-06 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the relationship between nationalism and the rise and fall of Yugoslavia under the rule of Josip Broz Tito. It deals particularly with the interactions between communist and intellectual elites. The authors analyze elites’ initial enthusiasm about the Yugoslav federation and how, with time, they found themselves unable to suppress the nationalists in Yugoslavia. Other scholars have argued that, in a certain sense, Tito’s Yugoslavia proved to be a “hatchery” for the nations that once constituted Yugoslavia, making them ever closer to “completeness.” However, as the authors highlight in this study, this process was one of conflict. The personal role of Tito as an arbiter was essential, although, for the majority of his time in power, he did not act as a dictator. His departure was strongly felt in the 1980s, when ethnic entrepreneurial activity began to flourish—and when ethnic and political relations had gone out of control. While a significant part of this book follows the chronology of ethnic elite interaction in communist Yugoslavia, the global context of Yugoslavia’s rise and fall is taken into account. The authors also use Yugoslavia as a case study to test the validity of nationalism studies more generally.

The Language of the Moldovans

Author : Matthew H. Ciscel
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Language of the Moldovans by : Matthew H. Ciscel

Download or read book The Language of the Moldovans written by Matthew H. Ciscel and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the identity of contemporary Moldovans from the perspective of debates about the languages they speak. The result is an image of an emerging nation of bilinguals that is, at once, similar to the experiences of other ex-Soviet states and uniquely complex.

Nationalism and Territory

Author : George W. White
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780847698097
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Nationalism and Territory by : George W. White

Download or read book Nationalism and Territory written by George W. White and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do nations come into conflict? What factors lead to the horrors of ethnic cleansing? This timely book offers clear-eyed answers to these questions by exploring how national identity is shaped by place, focusing especially on Serbia, Hungary, and Romania. Moving beyond studies of nationalism that consider only the economic and geostrategic value of territory, George W. White shows that the very core of national identity is intimately bound to specific places. Indeed, nations define themselves in terms of spaces that have historical, linguistic, and religious meaning, as Serbs have clearly demonstrated in Kosovo. These territories are concrete expressions of a nationAIs identity, both past and present. With his detailed analysis of the places that define national identity in Southeastern Europe, White convincingly shows why territorial disputes so often escalate into war.

The Politics of Greed

Author : Andrew Harrison Schwartz
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1461645158
Total Pages : 379 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (616 download)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of Greed by : Andrew Harrison Schwartz

Download or read book The Politics of Greed written by Andrew Harrison Schwartz and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2006-10-12 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the dissolution of the Soviet Empire, it seemed that market capitalism had triumphed and that democracy might replace authoritarian regimes. Economic reformers in the former Eastern Bloc rushed to liberalize prices and transfer state assets to private hands. They assumed that private owners in a market setting would have no choice but to behave rationally—that is, to invest in restructuring privatized enterprises so as to maximize profits. They also assumed that these owners would perceive a stable institutional environment as conducive to economic success and thus become a powerful lobby in favor of the rule of law, paving the way for democracy. The post-communist reality turned out to be very different. Private owners found that in a weak state with limited laws and regulations and ineffective corporate governance structures, it was more lucrative to steal enterprise assets and exploit opportunities for arbitrage than to restructure enterprises. The lesson learned is that not all forms of private ownership are the same. As this book's in-depth political history of privatization in Central and Eastern Europe demonstrates, the way that assets are privatized matters, both with respect to national economic performance and the successful development of the rule of law. Andrew Harrison Schwartz had unprecedented access to high-level Czech government officials during the Czech Republic's privatization process. This book is the result of the unique insights he gained and the innovative analytical framework he subsequently developed—ownership regime theory—which for the first time places ownership structures at the center of political transition analysis. Engaging and important, The Politics of Greed applies ownership regime theory to a broad range of post-communist privatization cases, including those of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Russia, and Ukraine.

Balkan Wars

Author : James D. Tracy
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442213604
Total Pages : 457 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis Balkan Wars by : James D. Tracy

Download or read book Balkan Wars written by James D. Tracy and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-07-29 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Distinguished scholar James D. Tracy shows how the Ottoman advance across Europe stalled in the western Balkans, where three great powers confronted one another in three adjoining provinces: Habsburg Croatia, Ottoman Bosnia, and Venetian Dalmatia. Until about 1580, Bosnia was a platform for Ottoman expansion, and Croatia steadily lost territory, while Venice focused on protecting the Dalmatian harbors vital for its trade with the Ottoman east. But as Habsburg-Austrian elites coalesced behind military reforms, they stabilized Croatia’s frontier, while Bosnia shifted its attention to trade, and Habsburg raiders crossing Dalmatia heightened tensions with Venice. The period ended with a long inconclusive war between Habsburgs and Ottomans, and a brief inconclusive war between Austria and Venice. Based on rich primary research and a masterful synthesis of key studies, this book is the first English-language history of the early modern Western Balkans. More broadly, it brings out how the Ottomans and their European rivals conducted their wars in fundamentally different ways. A sultan’s commands were not negotiable, and Ottoman generals were held to a time-tested strategy for conquest. Habsburg sovereigns had to bargain with their elites, and it took elaborate processes of consultation to rally provincial estates behind common goals. In the end, government-by-consensus was able to withstand government-by-command.

The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation

Author : Bradley F. Abrams
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742530249
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation by : Bradley F. Abrams

Download or read book The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation written by Bradley F. Abrams and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The material effects of World War II, in combination with Eastern Europe's disappointingly undemocratic interwar history, placed radical social change on the postwar agenda across the region and shaped the debates that took place in immediate postwar Czech society. These debates adopted both a cultural form, in struggles over the meaning of the recent past and the nation's position on the East-West continuum, and a directly political form, in battles over the meaning of socialism. The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation examines the most important and politically resonant fields of historical and cultural debate in Czech society immediately after World War II. Bradley Abrams finds that communist public figures were largely successful in controlling debate over the nation's recent past--the interwar First Republic and the experiences of Munich and World War II--and over its location on the East-West continuum. This success preceded and was mirrored in the struggles over the political issue of the times: socialism. The communists engaged their political foes in the democratic socialist and Roman Catholic camps, and, surprisingly, found significant support from a major Protestant church. Abrams's careful reading of major publications re-creates a postwar mood sympathetic to radical social change, questioning the standard view of the communists' rise to power. This book not only contributes to the specific literature on Czech history, but also raises questions about the relationship between war and radical social change, about the communist takeover of the region, and about the role of intellectuals in public life.

Diplomats and Dreamers

Author : Mari Agop Firkatian
Publisher : University Press of America
ISBN 13 : 9780761840695
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis Diplomats and Dreamers by : Mari Agop Firkatian

Download or read book Diplomats and Dreamers written by Mari Agop Firkatian and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2008 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book chronicles a family of diplomats who experienced the world in transition. Subjects of capricious fate, they forged a destiny as a family that overcame some of the most cataclysmic events of the twentieth century. Diplomats and Dreamers is a family biography that begins with the careers of the parents in 1887 and ends with the death of Nadejda Stancioff, their eldest child, in 1957. The context of historical developments in an uncertain period of European history highlights their lives. Members of the haute bourgeoisie, this accomplished family is noteworthy for an unflagging ability to survive and persist with success and grace. Furthermore, this book addresses issues of gender by using the careers of the Stancioff women as exemplars of how a woman could develop her life in an atmosphere of strict gender divisions in labor. The Stancioff women's way of fitting into the mainstream of elite society is yet another model of a new generation of women who stepped beyond the narrow expectations of what their gender could achieve. Based on unexplored, unpublished primary materials, this book enriches both women's history and European history.

Globalizing Southeastern Europe

Author : Ulf Brunnbauer
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 1498519563
Total Pages : 377 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (985 download)

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Book Synopsis Globalizing Southeastern Europe by : Ulf Brunnbauer

Download or read book Globalizing Southeastern Europe written by Ulf Brunnbauer and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the nineteenth century, Southeastern Europe became a prime sending region of emigrants to overseas countries, in particular the United States. This massive movement of people ended in 1914 but remained consequential long thereafter, as emigration had created networks, memories, and attitudes that shaped social and political practices in Southeastern Europe long after the emigrants had left. This book’s main concern is to reconstruct the political and socioeconomic impact of emigration on Southeastern Europe. In contrast to migration studies’ traditional focus on immigration, this book concentrates on the sending countries. The author provides a comparative analysis of the socioeconomic causes and consequences of emigration and argues that migrant networks and emulation effects were crucial for the persistence of migration inclinations. It also brings the state back in the emigration story and discusses political responses towards emigration by governments in the region before 1914. Emigration policy became closely aligned with nation-building and social engineering. These stances continued even after emigration had subsided: interwar Yugoslavia, which is studied in detail, tried to create a Yugoslav “diaspora” in America by turning emigrants from its territory into expatriate citizens. Hence, a nationalizing state exploited transnational linkages. The book closes with the emigration policies of communist Yugoslavia until the early 1960s,when experiments and experiences of the government were crucial for its eventual decision to liberalize labor migration to the West (the only communist government to do so). A paramount reason for this was the fact that emigrants, both as a place of memory and a source of remittances, continued to be significant. This book therefore presents emigration as a complex social phenomenon that requires a multifaceted historical approach in order to reveal the effects of migration on different temporal and spatial scales.

On Civilization's Edge

Author : Kathryn Ciancia
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190067470
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis On Civilization's Edge by : Kathryn Ciancia

Download or read book On Civilization's Edge written by Kathryn Ciancia and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a resurgent Poland emerged at the end of World War I, an eclectic group of Polish border guards, state officials, military settlers, teachers, academics, urban planners, and health workers descended upon Volhynia, an eastern borderland province that was home to Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews. Its aim was not simply to shore up state power in a place where Poles constituted an ethnic minority, but also to launch an ambitious civilizing mission that would transform a poor Russian imperial backwater into a region that was at once civilized, modern, and Polish. Over the next two decades, these men and women recast imperial hierarchies of global civilization-in which Poles themselves were often viewed as uncivilized-within the borders of their supposedly anti-imperial nation-state. As state institutions remained fragile, long-debated questions of who should be included in the nation re-emerged with new urgency, turning Volhynia's mainly Yiddish-speaking towns and Ukrainian-speaking villages into vital testing grounds for competing Polish national visions. By the eve of World War II, with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union growing in strength, schemes to ensure the loyalty of Jews and Ukrainians by offering them a conditional place in the nation were replaced by increasingly aggressive calls for Jewish emigration and the assimilation of non-Polish Slavs. Drawing on research in local and national archives across four countries and utilizing a vast range of written and visual sources that bring Volhynia to life, On Civilization's Edge offers a highly intimate story of nation-building from the ground up. We eavesdrop on peasant rumors at the Polish-Soviet border, read ethnographic descriptions of isolated marshlands, and scrutinize staged photographs of everyday life. But the book's central questions transcend the Polish case, inviting us to consider how fears of national weakness and competitions for local power affect the treatment of national minorities, how more inclusive definitions of the nation are themselves based on exclusions, and how the very distinction between empires and nation-states is not always clear-cut.