The Baltic's time has come. It is not only critical to Europe's security and increasingly a centre of political and military power in its own right; it is a reservoir of ideas and experiences that could shape the continent's future.
The Baltic offers by far the most successful examples of the reintegration of Europe's old capitalist and communist blocs. It abounds in pioneering environmental initiatives, ranging from the world's first geological "forever" storage facility for nuclear waste in Finland to its first "zero waste" community, on the Danish island of Bornholm. Brutalised by the 20th century, the rebounding economies of Poland, Finland and Estonia are case studies in the mobilisation of social resources and the transformative power of technology.
This books explores the history, their culture, their peculiarities and national dilemmas of all nine Baltic countries. At its core is a search for fresh answers to Europe's problems, at a point where the continent's previously dominant powers appear tired and divided. It is structured around reports from 13 places in the hinterland of the Baltic sea, each of which embodies a conundrum of wider relevance but is also fascinating in its own right. Baltic is based on well over a hundred interviews with heads of state and government, ministers, politicians, retired political leaders, military commanders, diplomats, NATO and intelligence officials, scholars, analysts and ordinary citizens. It leaves the people of the Baltic countries to speak for themselves, suspending the twin tendencies to either judge or romanticise them. Now more than ever, the rest of the West needs their perspectives.
THE MUST-READ BOOK ON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FLASHPOINT
A BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE AND DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Magnificent ... As exciting to read as it is important' Peter Frankopan
'Fascinating ... essential reading' Helen Thompson
'Alarming and uplifting' John Kampfner
The Baltic will decide the course of the West in the coming years.
These nine borderlands are not only the historical battleground of Russian aggression; they are also a factory of ideas for how to revive Europe. Shaped by the past one hundred years, each Baltic country offers lessons in adaptability, hope and prosperity in an era of instability.
Innovation in Estonia, patience in Finland, resilience in Poland, even poetry in Latvia: with their tumultuous pasts and exposed geography, these poorly understood frontline states are reconfiguring the balance of power around the heart of Eurasia. From pioneering environmental initiatives and world-leading innovations in technology to ever-growing economies, from tackling disinformation to tempering the populist right, the Baltic states are now key to understanding how political events might unfold in the coming years.
Blending history, politics and reportage, this is the first book to explain why these are some of our most imaginative allies, yet most of us know so little about them. Interviewing prime ministers, presidents, generals, intelligence officers, business leaders and ordinary people, Oliver Moody traces the extraordinary emergence of a new fulcrum of great-power rivalry. But the real reason we need to understand them is that their fate is ours.
