[Studyguide for Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War 2 by Wingfield, Rothschild &, ISBN 9780195119930] (By: Cram101 Textbook Reviews) [published: May, 2011]

It's all here: perfidious Communists, the scheming Stalin, noble-but-doomed anti-Communists, a morally confused West doing too little too late. It's all familiar ground, and leaves questions begged as much as answered. I do not disrespect Professor Rothschild's scholarship. He is a worthy successor to Hugh Seton-Watson, his mentor. Professor Rothschild's work added new information on the course of Communist East Europe, especially in its latter phases. What is lacking is an appreciation of why the USSR moved into this region as it did, insisting on Soviet control by any means necessary. Cold war Western historians largely slight the trauma suffered by Russia and the constituent Soviet republics during World War II, but it's hard to overstate the wanton brutality and devastation the Nazis dealt to the Eastern Front, with the help of East European Axis satellites and collaborators. It is quite understandable why Moscow would seek to ensure this never happened again, by closing off these border nations to any future aggressor. This fact, untidy as it is, receives scant attention in Professor Rothschild's work. But it is not a slight of his alone, but of the whole school of cold war historiography of which this is, admittedly, one of the better products. Also left hanging is the question of why the Soviet Bloc is singled out as an example of cold war aggression, as opposed to U.S. manipulation of French and Italian elections, U.S. and U.K. provocation of the Greek civil war, the U.S. and U.K. creation of West Germany, and the rehabilitation of ex-Nazis and Franco's Spain. The left half of postwar Western Europe was buried as thoroughly as the right half in the East, but one process is considered necessary, the other reprehensible when done by the enemy. As to his charges of the West's evading "its responsibility" in the East, one wonders what more could have been done than what was done. Demanding that the "captive nations go free," and saber-rattling at Moscow, only played into post-war Soviet trauma and ensured the Iron Curtain's survival for two generations. Highly acclaimed and thoroughly updated, Return to Diversity, Fourth Edition, provides a comprehensive political history of East Central Europe from World War II to the present. An engaging and straightforward political narrative, the book is organized chronologically in a country-by-country format that students can easily navigate. Each section summarizes and examines the most important themes in Eastern Europe during the rise and fall of Communism. The text features balanced discussions of relevant political events, along with a detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of Communism from the perspective of post-Communist regimes. Nancy M. Wingfield has revised the fourth edition to incorporate additional social and economic history into the text's strong discussions of political history. She also provides expanded coverage of the resurgence of nationalism in the 1980s, the role of dissident movements in the shift to democracy, and the problems of Communism. To make the region's history even more relevant to students, Return to Diversity now concludes with a compelling look at the contemporary reintegration of the "new" and "old" Europes. Unsurpassed in scope, depth of analysis, and objectivity, Return to Diversity continues to be an invaluable resource for both professors and students of this region's vivid political history. "Most historians pinpoint Moses Mendelssohn's intellectual revolution in Germany during the second half of the eighteenth century as the decisive event that spawned Jewish modernity in the West. Todd M. Endelman takes issue with this Germanocentric orientation, however, counterarguing that the modernization of European Jewry encompassed far more than an intellectual revolution. By concentrating on the actual social and religious behavior of English Jews, Endelman demonstrates that the acculturation of Anglo-Jewry during the Georgian period moved at a more rapid pace than elsewhere in Europe. This was due largely to a constellation of political, social, and religious developments that set England apart from the rest of Europe in the eighteenth century. As such, Anglo-Jewry as a whole enjoyed a degree of toleration not to be found on the Continent."--BOOK JACKET. This highly acclaimed book offers a complete political history of East Central Europe from World War II to the present. Return to Diversity, now in its third edition, introduces a new co-author, Nancy M. Wingfield, and has been fully updated to cover events up through the 1990s. It includes an account and analysis of the developments in post-communist regimes throughout the region, addressing the transformation of each country during the first post-communist decade. It discusses coalition politics, ethnic discord, and issues of democratic development. This new edition features additional maps and extensively revised reading lists to reflect the most current scholarship in the field. Unsurpassed in scope, in depth of analysis, and in fairness and objectivity, Return to Diversity is an invaluable resource for students of this regions history and politics. Title Page......Page 3 Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 9 Preface to the Second Edition......Page 10 Preface to the First Edition......Page 11 The Interwar Background......Page 15 World War II......Page 37 The Communists Come to Power......Page 89 The Dialectics of Stalinism and Titoism......Page 139 The Revenge of the Repressed: East Central Europe Reasserts Itself......Page 161 A Precarious Stalemate......Page 205 The Various Endgames......Page 241 The Postcommunist Decade......Page 279 Notes......Page 317 Suggested Readings......Page 331 Index......Page 339 Book Availability In Franklin......Page 0 At the close of World War I, the four defeated empires that had dominated and ruled East Central Europe-the German, Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian empires-were replaced by a dozen new or restored or enlarged would-be nation-states, all of which based their asserted legitimation on the then reigning politico-moral principle of national self-determination. Written by one of the world's foremost authorities on East Central Europe, Return to Diversity has proven to be an invaluable guide for readers of modern European history and politics. This third edition introduces a new co-author, Nancy M. Wingfield, and has been fully updated to take into account recent and ongoing developments in the region. Offering a complete political history of East Central Europe from World War II to 1998, this third edition introduces a co-author, Nancy Wingfield, and thoroughly updates the text and bibliography Joseph Rothschild, Nancy M. Wingfield. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 317-323) And Index.