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Lonnie R. JOHNSON, Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbours, Friends, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996, xi + 339 pp., ISBN 0-19-510071-9 (hardback) L27.00. 0-19-510072-7 (paperback) L15.00.
Nearly a decade after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, this book attempts to resurrect the idea of Central Europe, and to re-angle the traditional bipolar perspective of many historians away from a Europe of East and West, a hangover from the Soviet period. As Johnson shows, the idea of Central Europe has a long history, long predating post-Yalta Europe with its East/West, communist/democratic division. In Central Europe, Lonnie Johnson presents the history, politics and society of the region from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present post-Soviet period. In addition to modifying the traditional binary perspective towards Europe, the book also seeks to bring the histories of the smaller powers and peoples of the region...