Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe

By Anne Applebaum

Book Overview

In 1991, Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag, Iron Curtain and Red Famine, took a three-month road trip through the borderlands between the fallen Soviet Union and Europe--lands that became Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova. In her iconic reportage, which has become indispensable history, she captures the harrowing story of a region that is once again threatened by Russia.

An extraordinary journey into the past and present of the lands east of Poland and west of Russia--an area defined throughout its history by colliding empires. Traveling from the former Soviet naval center of Kaliningrad on the Baltic to the Black Sea port of Odessa, Anne Applebaum encounters a rich range of competing cultures, religions, and national aspirations.

In reasserting their heritage, the inhabitants of the borderlands attempt to build a future grounded in their fractured ancestral legacies. In the process, neighbors unearth old conflicts, devote themselves to recovering lost culture, and piece together competing legends to create a new tradition. Rich in surprising encounters and vivid characters, Between East and West brilliantly illuminates the soul of the borderlands and the shaping power of the past.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052543318X
• ISBN13: 9780525433187
• Release Date: June 2017
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

APPLEBAUM TAKES YOU AWAY TO ADVENTURE TO NEW PLACES; ACADEMIC BUT NOT DRY; QUICK FASCINATING READ!!!

Anne Applebaum, who also wrote Gulag: A History, writes another great work. This one, we agreewas hard to put down. Bookclubs out there... get this book! Other books on this topic and graet! are:Between Nazis and Soviets: Occupation Politics in Poland, 1939-1947, pricy, but worth it. Also, The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture + Katyn: Stalin's Massacre and the Triumph of Truth + World War II: Behind Closed Doors, works on American systems too. Vi ses

Must read about little known countries

My daughter raved about Applebaum's Gulag so in preparation for an upcoming trip to the Baltics I checked this book out of the library. I can't believe there are only 2 reviews of this book - I could not put it down. Every detail was so intriguing that I am going to track down the other books listed in her "note about sources" to learn more about the fascinating countries she wrote about.

Excellent travelogue/history of a little-known area

If you have Eastern European roots, this is a fascinating book. Ms. Applebaum has done a brilliant job of describing life in a region where half a dozen cultures have lived side by side