| Kirjeldus | Part history, part memoir, this unconventional account of the fate of the Baltic nations is also an important reassessment of WWII and its outcome. Acclaimed for his study of WWI (Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age, 1989), Eksteins, a professor of history at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, here combines his role of historian with that of autobiographer, rapidly shifting among events before, during, and after WWII. First he provides the drama of his family history …
In addition, the family history opens up the subject of displacement, with a heavy focus on the fate of DPs in the postwar years and the struggle and hope of the immigrant experience. A history of the Baltic nations is squeezed in as well, with special emphasis on these nations vulnerable position between Germany and Russia, with an eye to WWII. — Kirkus Reviews |