Few countries have suffered more from the convulsions and bloodshed of 20th-century Europe than those in the eastern Baltic region. Caught between Germany and Russia, on a route across which armies surged or retreated, small nations like Latvia and Estonia endured foreign control of their territory, religion, government, and culture. Putting a face on these lands and their conflicts, Max Egremont presents an extraordinary cast of characters—contemporary and historical, foreign and indigenous—while offering a broad and brilliant account of the long-overlooked Baltic.