Romania by Peter Siani-Davies; Mary Siani-DaviesReview by: Dennis DeletantThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Oct., 1999), pp. 777-778Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4212992 .

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REVIEWS 777

fraud), after which he was driven out of Groznyi and Argun and joined the Russian-backed opposition. He was finally liquidated in mysterious circum- stances in 1995, most probably by the Russians themselves, as part of a deal with Dudaev's forces and because they had become tired of his banditry. Weapons and more importantly ammunition certainly reached the Chechens from Azerbaijan, but they certainly did not come in by air. Dudaev did not offer 'as early as January 1995' to accept autonomy instead of independence. He talked on occasions of 'negotiations without preconditions', and of interstate agreements, but throughout 1995 and until his death his commit- ment to independence was rock-solid.

As for Siren's account of the origins of the war and the battle for Grozny, it is competent enough for one based almost entirely on media reports. For example, rather unusually for a book of this kind, it takes a cool and realistic look at the various suggested casualty figures (p. I 30). However, it seems to have been written three years ago, while the war was still going on, and then hastily updated. It also adds little that is new or original to our knowledge of the conflict and is highly inadequate as an account of Chechen internal politics and society, and the relation of these to the origins of the war, the Chechen victory, and the Chechens' complete and tragic post-war failure to lay the foundations of an independent and effective Chechen state.

If Macmillan were to have published this book at all, they should have taken a great deal more care with it.

International Institute of Strategic Studies ANATOL LIEVEN

London

Siani-Davies, Peter and Siani-Davies, Mary. Romania. World Biographical Series, 59. Clio Press, Oxford, Santa Barbara, CA, and Denver, CD, I998. xxxv + 348 pp. Map. Indexes. 766.oo.

IF any evidence was needed to show that there had been a revolution in Romania in December I 989, then this Bibliography could be adduced as part of it. The achievement of the two authors is a testimony to the revolution in Romanian studies that has accompanied the political one. The impressive amount of material catalogued in this volume can be taken, as the authors point out, as a sign of the vitality of these studies in the English-speaking world. For books published in English on Romania between I984 and I997 this is the definitive bibliography.

It is exhaustive in its coverage, listing 997 titles including articles and chapters from books in areas ranging from agriculture, anthropology and the arts, to science, society and trade. Encompassed in this range are works on history, geography, economics, politics, customs, religion and social organiza- tion. But it is not merely a bibliography, it is a cultural handbook and as such I can think of no better introduction to the country, its people and its affairs.

The authors state modestly in their Introduction that their work should primarily be seen as an extension of the earlier edition. That was published in I 985 at a time when Romania was almost as akin to the Western public as the dark side of the moon, but the overthrow of Ceausescu and the revelation of

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778 SEER, 77, 4, I999

the enormity of his rule has brought Romania under the spotlight of international scrutiny, a scrutiny reflected in the wealth of material tracked down by the compilers. Alongside its intrinsic value in signalling this material, the Bibliography offers alongside a description of the entry a critical appreciation which in some cases can be likened to a mini-review. Many of the entries on history, literature and politics are particularly impressive in this respect and indicate the close familiarity which the authors have, not only with the subject, but also with the relevant discipline. The Introduction is a model of synthesis, accurate and generous in its scope, yet leavened with profound insight in places. Supplemented by three separate indexes of authors, titles and subjects, this Bibliography represents an outstanding contribution to the excellent World Bibliographical Series.

School of Slavonic and East European Studies DENNIS DELETANT

University of London

Hupchick, Dennis P. and Cox, Harold E. A Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe. Macmillan, Basingstoke and London, I996. vii + 120 pp. Maps. Bibliography. Index. /I2.99 (paperback).

THE intention of this new historical atlas is to provide students with an affordable set of maps suitable for introductory courses on East European history. In this respect the atlas fulfils its purpose admirably. It contains fifty full-page maps illustrating the history of the region from the late Roman period to the I99os. Each map is accompanied by an explanatory page of close print. Read together, these pages constitute one of the crispest and most succinct histories of the region yet available. Unlike many other historical atlases, ample space is dedicated to the medieval and early modern periods. It is here, however, that several predictable difficulties arise.

The idea that a polity has defined and exact boundaries within which the power exercised by the centre is equally distributed is an essentially modern one. In the medieval period, in particular, frontiers between areas of jurisdiction were wide and they frequently comprised large tracts of no man's land. Moreover, until the invention of the idea of the sovereign state in the late eighteenth century, relationships of power within and between polities were so complex as to defy two-dimensional representation. Let us take, by example, Map 20 in the present collection which illustrates Eastern Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. On the basis of the prince of Wallachia's recognition of Louis of Hungary's suzerainty, Wallachia is included within the Hungarian kingdom. This gives, however, a misleading picture, for the personal subordination of the prince of Wallachia was not accompanied by any administrative or political reorganization of his land. Regardless of its prince's action, Wallachia continued to fall outside the remit of the Hungarian king's chancellery. Likewise, with respect to Map 24, illustrating the territorial extent of the Ottoman empire in the mid-sixteenth century, the shading of Transylvania in the same green wash as Moldavia, Wallachia and central Hungary conceals the very real differences of control exercized by the Sultan and Ottoman administration. Turkish Hungary was organized into vilayets,

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