The Reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999

ENThe subjects of this book are the transformation of national ideas, the causes of ethnic cleansing, and the conditions for national reconciliation. One theme is the contestation of territory, and contested places are known by different names to different people at different times. Another theme is the difference between history and memory, a difference revealed when care is taken with names. The body of this book will name cities between Warsaw and Moscow according to the usage of the people in question at the relevant moment. This minimizes anachronism, recalls the importance of language to nationalism, and emphasizes that the disposition of cities is never final. The gazetteer provides toponyms in eight languages in use as of this writing. [...] This book draws on archival materials; document collections; parliamentary records; ministerial memoranda; local, national, and national-minority news papers of various countries and periods; diaries, memoirs, and correspondence; scholarly publications; other printed and unprinted sources; and interviews with civil servants, parliamentary deputies, ministers, and heads of state. Archives are cited by four-letter abbreviations, and document collections by short titles: a key is found at the back of the book. Books and articles are cited in full at first, and then by author surname and short title. Other sources are cited in full. Authors’ names are spelled as they appear in the cited work, even when this gives rise to inconsistencies of transliteration. [...] [Extract, p. ix-x].