Eastern Europe and the Origins of the Second World War (The Making of the Twentieth Century)

"In this book Anita Prazmowska examines, from an Eastern European perspective, Eastern Europe's apparent political and military failures in the face of Nazi aggression. Until now, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and the Baltic States have generally been seen as powerless victims. Prazmowska suggests an alternative view, namely seeing them as states which had to grapple with complex economic, political and military dilemmas. To many in the region, British and French indifference was nearly as dangerous as German, Italian and Soviet interference.". "Otherwise inexplicable conundrums of Czechoslovak passivity in 1938, Polish bullishness in the face of British offers of aid in 1939, and the perception that the Romanian king was too cunning for his own good, are tackled - and the states from the Baltic to the Balkans are given their place in European history, and, in particular, in the study of the Second World War."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.