Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Not knowing a lot about Eastern Europe myself, it felt informative, sometimes funny and never too dense. Obviously it's not a formal nor comprehensive history book but I finished reading it with a better if incomplete idea of what was and remains Eastern Europe. This book made me want to dig deeper about the region's people.

This beautifully written and engaging book is a mixture of 1900 years of history, culture, literature and a personal history of the author,which is full of lyrical reflections and a kind of memorial to a world which has disappeared not so long ago. It comes in three parts:Faiths,Empires and Peoples, and The Twentieth Century.I am not so certain about the opening of the book, which states that "this is a history of a place that doesn't exist. "After all, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary. Romania, Poland and many other countries in Eastern Europe are still alive.But the author is right in writing that this part of the world has "remained alive by being forgotten".It is full of anecdotes about the area which is to be found between the Baltic countries to the Black Sea and beyond. True, many countries do not want to be labeled again as belonging to East Europe for many and various reasons.Mr Mikanowski offers the reader a more than vast and kaleidoscopic description of what has happened in the area for more than 1900 years, including Jews, Muslims, Roma and many other by now forgotten minorities.Take, for example, the Karaites, a handful of whom are still alive in Poland-Lithuania.These Jews obeyed the Torah, rejecting the Talmud.Their origins are to be found in Babylonia.They adopted Turkish names and have even (many hundreds of years ago) worshipped trees. They are konwn mainly for their sweet and large cucumbers,which were said to have come straight from the Orient and were famous as far as Warsaw.Only a handful of them are still alive today.The author,who is half-Jewish (from his father's side), details the horrible things his family had to endure in the twentieth century. But this NOT a book only about Jews, but about the so many ethnic groups and peoples who lived there. Pagans, atrocious crimes, the rise of the various Empires which have long ago disappeared, intellectuals that were Fascists /Communists, wanderers from one place to another, the formation of nations, famous writers, the rise and fall of many ideologies-all these interspersed with many personal stories -are to be found here.This is a history which is a portrait of diversity and eclecticism which will enrich your knowledge about a world of yesterday. Highly recommended !

Present for my husband, who comes from Central Europe. He is enjoying it

While the book was interesting with many anecdotes, folksy comments and humor, I feel Mr. Mikanowski is a somewhat premature to say goodby to Eastern Europe. Their existence of over 1800 years is well entrenched in world history, and it's only the Russians who continuously have tried to destroy it. While these lands were occupied by Polish- Lithuanians, Austro Hungarians, Ottomans, and others, only the Russians, Moskali and Communists have been obsessed in continuous destruction. Perhaps Russia should have never been considered a part of Eastern Europe. Their attempts to adapt to Western society have always been difficult due to autocratic and brutal leadership, and thus prevented them in realizing this dream. A streak of constant conquest and destruction has continued for centuries. Eastern Europe will survive and thrive once the West realizes its importance and Russians come to their senses. Let's not give up now!

As a history graduate of UC Davis (1969) and family ties to eastern Germany as well as a recent trip to Krakow, Kielce, and Warsaw the interest was sparked. This book revealed in a folksy way these lands that I have ignored all this time. The writer’s style and my curiosity led me on.