Twentieth-century Baltic history is extremely well represented. One of the best books on the area is Georg von Rauch’s The Baltic States: The Years of Independence 1917-1940 (1974, St. Martin’s Press). Beginning with a history of the region up until the First World War, the book proceeds to explain in great detail the political, diplomatic, economic and social events that shaped the area during its brief respite from Russian rule between the wars. Von Rauch, whose family was a member of the Baltic German landowner class, is able to present all three people’s history from the perspective of both an insider and an outsider.
A continuation of the saga, inspired by von Rauch’s book, is The Baltic States: Years of Dependence 1940-1990 (1993, University of California Press) by the Lithuanian-American Romuald Misiunas and the Estonian-American Rein Taagepera. This work details the effects that Soviet rule had on the Baltics, yet shows how the Baltic nations managed to survive incorporation into the Soviet Union to become independent countries in 1991. While the lack of a Latvian author means that the writers couldn’t examine sources in that language, Misiunas and Taagepera are able to give all three countries equal treatment. Both books treat the Baltic nations as a unit, highlighting common trends while contrasting the different events that took place in each. They are also often cited as two of the books to read about 20th-century Baltic history.
One other book about the region is The Baltic Revolution (1993, Yale University Press), by journalist Anatol Lieven. While the book spends a lot of time on the independence movements during the late 1980s that brought freedom to the Baltics, Lieven also does a fantastic job summarizing the centuries of Baltic history and tying them together with the present. Unfortunately, the book’s “present” was 1993, when the situation was much more fluid and Russia itself was completely in chaos. Back then, it wasn’t sure whether the Baltic states would survive; today, they’re trying to join the European Union and NATO. In 1993, Vladimir Zhirinovsky was a real threat to the Baltic States, but eight years later, the Russians appear to have settled for a saner autocrat. Regardless of the change that’s taken place since it was written, the book has a lot to offer. The chapters on the Baltic Russians are particularly informative.
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