The Baltic States brings together three titles, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to provide a comprehensive and analytical guide integrating history, political science, economic development and contemporary events into one account.

Originally published in German in 1970, this English translation appeared for the first time in 1974 and was reprinted in 1987, but a paperback version has not been available until now. It is a study of the Baltic states during their years of independence between the world wars.

After emerging from the long shadow cast by the Soviet Union, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and neighboring Poland transitioned from communism to market economies and instituted democratic reforms in a remarkably short time. Although each continues to contend with various economic and political issues, their successes have allowed them to become some of the few former Eastern bloc states to join the European Union. The journeys each country has made—from antiquity to the present—and the remarkable peoples and cultures that make their populations are the subjects of this captivating volume.

Of all the Soviet Union's subject nationalities, the three Baltic republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were the most determined and best organised in seizing the opportunities created by glasnost and perestroika to win freedom from Moscow's grip. At the time of first publication, in 1991, the final section of the book was speculative. Now for this revised edition, the authors have provided a new final chapter which brings the story up to date -- and the three republics to political independence again.