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Rating: 
Summary: excellent introductory text
Review: Its rare to find a text that is written in an accessible manner, which covers a lot of territory clearly, and which makes important analytical points. The Roskin book fits the bill perfectly as an introduction to the history of East Europe. I have been using it as an introductory book for students (including juniors and seniors) for years and it always praised by them. Unlike the only other Amazon reviewer, I did not find it biased, and the book provides plenty of factual material to allow students to make up their own mind about the issues.
Rating: 
Summary: Roskin...
Review: Of all the bad things I have read on Eastern Europe, this book is the worst. I already wrote a long criticism in reviewing another of Roskin's books, so I will not repeat it here, although he deserves all the criticism he can get. If "chitatel"'s students liked Roskin's book, it only goes to show how harmful the book is: uninitiated students, without other access to information on the region, read Roskin as if he were telling the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Roskin...
Review: Of all the bad things I have read on Eastern Europe, this book is the worst. I already wrote a long criticism in reviewing another of Roskin's books, so I will not repeat it here, although he deserves all the criticism he can get. If "chitatel"'s students liked Roskin's book, it only goes to show how harmful the book is: uninitiated students, without other access to information on the region, read Roskin as if he were telling the truth.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Undergraduate Text
Review: The Rebirth of East Europe is a wonderful text for teaching an introductory, undergraduate course in the politics of the region. I used it for the first time in summer 2004 to teach a course at the Anglo-American College in Prague, and the students (half of them Czech) really took to it. Now in its fourth edition, it is the only text I have found that comprehensively covers the history, politics, economics, and societies of the region in a lively manner. Granted, the author has definite opinions and makes some strong assertions about communism, which may be disconcerting to those on the extreme left of the political spectrum. Yet having lived and taught for many years in the Czech and Slovak Republics, I found his comments largely on target, especially his assessments of the former regimes, the problems facing the new ones, and public attitudes towards both. This was re-confirmed by my Czech colleagues. The book is also extremely well organized, having a logical flow making it easy to follow. Throughout, boxes highlight special topics, which proved extremely useful in generating class discussions. In short, The Rebirth of East Europe is an excellent introductory text to the region, and one that will most definitely not bore your students!
Rating: 
Summary: Simplistic Cold War book
Review: While the book does present events in 20th century Eastern and Central Europe fairly succinctly, the author is clearly guided throughout by his political convictions. While an anti-communist stand is not surprising, Roskin's is quite virulent, and prevents any sense of academic detachment from appearing in the book. Besides, as one of the other reviewers noted, Roskin stoops to absurd simplifications in order to explain events in the region. For example, he blames the weakness of "East European" states on the fact that they were part of empires in the past. But, pardon me, what country in the world was not, at one time, part of an empire? How does that make "East Europe" different from any other region in the world?As for the more technical aspects of the book, I found the maps in it to be crude, and the use of diacritics on East-Central European names very patchy: Roskin applied them to some names and not to others, perhaps revealing the fundamental problem with this book: a lack of first-hand knowledge of the region.
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