The reconstruction of nations. Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belaru

In this book, the author traces the emergence of Polish, Ukranian, Lithuanian, and Bielorusian nationhood from the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569 to the enlargeement of NATO in 1999. He provides original explanations for the atrocities of the twentieh century and the first scholarly account of the Ukranian-Polish ethnic cleansings of the 1940s. Yet he begings with the principles of toleration that prevailed in much of early modern eastern Europe and concludes with the peaceful resolution of national tensions in the region since 1989.