Fitzroy Dearborn are obviously publishers who take great care in the appearance of their books. The lightweight portable handling, white paper, tidy layout, and quite the most stylish index I have seen for a while, all speak to me of quality, pride and professionalism. Let us linger on the index, so often a begrudged and rushed afterthought. Its compiler is anonymous (shame on you, Mr Publisher!) but I will sing his/her praises (definitely not a computerised “it”). OK, maybe not the most taxing of books to index, but the clarity is a joy to behold. The generous space given to indentation is unusual, but it works well ‐ and corners could have been cut by suppressing conjunctions and adverbs, but I am glad they were not. Why sacrifice a few column inches for user‐friendliness? As a taster of what is in store, Albania has 15 sub‐divisions after a clutch of undifferentiated page references, then come the Albanian Alps, Albanian language, Albanian Party of Labor, “Albanianization” of Kosovo, Albanians (with eight sub‐divisions), and on to other delights such as alcohol, the Alliance of Change (Serbia), Alliance of Free Democrats (Hungary), aluminum, American depository receipts, and Amoco. The index also carries an introductory scope note relating to the problem of nomenclature: “Czech lands” cover the period up to 1993; “Czech Republic” the period from 1993; “former Yugoslavia” refers to the state created in 1918, renamed in 1929, refounded in 1945, and dissolved in 1992; while “rump Yugoslavia” refers to the Federal Republic established by Serbia and Montenegro in 1992 but not recognized internationally. A jump to the Editors’ note at the front of the book finds a similar problem: “Where does central Europe end, and eastern Europe begin, and do they overlap with northern Europe?” For the record The Central and Eastern Europe Handbook covers Poland, Hungary, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania. All countries where an up‐to‐date economic analysis is badly needed. Belarus, Moldova and the Ukraine are excluded.
The first part of the book “Context and prospects” treats these countries individually or in small groups. History, the constitution, economic situation, political issues, borders, international relations and such‐like are briefly and concisely sketched in. The second part “Economic and social issues” has chapters on such topics as energy, agriculture, manufacturing, financial services, economic relations with Russia, regional development, and “minorities, states, and conflict”. The final chapter covers relations with the rest of Europe. There are annotated lists of further reading to all the chapters, numerous tables (for example, Bulgaria’s main trading partners, Selected macroeconomic indicators for Romania) and a few maps (such as Soils in Central and Eastern Europe). There are also several useful appendices. A chronology starts with Hungary signing the Anti‐Comintern Pact in February 1939 and concludes with NATO’s peace‐keeping forces moving into Kosovo in June 1999. The appendix on personalities lists “paramount leaders”, presidents and prime ministers by state, and has a potted A to Z of notable personalities such as Ceausescu, Dubcek and Havel. There is a section on political and economic institutions, and one on ethnic groups. The bibliography is confined to recent monographs, so Web sites, journals and non‐English sources are excluded. Finally we come to that excellent index.
The book is pitched at a level not too detailed (such as Europa’s Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States), yet not too light ‐ a level suitable for any library which requires up‐to‐date information and informed comment on this rapidly developing part of the world.
