Customer Reviews

Estonia: Return To Independence (Westview Series on the Post-Soviet Republics)

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Very good book, interesting history review of the past, but a little bit PROPAGANDA sounding end, anyway, the excellent source for those who is interested in Estonian history.

"Return to Independence" is perhaps one of the most unique books on the topic of Estonia. It is one part historical account, one part autobiography, and one part personal polemic. Taagepera mixes concise, academic prose with a dose of literary caprice when relating personal anecdotes and ingenious metaphors, resulting in a book about much more than the Estonian national identity, or the Estonian struggle for freedom from the USSR. Rather, this book is about of the indomitability of the human spirit, and the fuel to that spirit that we know as freedom.

I picked up this book to read out of a vague interest in the Baltic States and ended up reading it cover to cover in a couple of evenings. The author does a great job of covering Estonian history and culture in the early part of the book, then the impact of Soviet rule (which he calls colonial...a very accurate depiction of the soviet empire), then covers the steps by which Estonia regained independance. Along the way, he interjects personal experiences into the narrative, something which makes the book even more interesting. Well worth the read if you want to know more about a little-known country.

The only flaw from my perspective was that as the book was written and published back in 1993, it misses the last 14 years and one has to go elsewhere for this. More a case of when the book was written than anything else of course......

Also, as an aside, if you're interested in books on Estonia, or set in Estonia, try Sofi Oksanen's Purge. Brilliant novel, won the 2008 Finlandia Prize, #1 on the best seller list in Finland when it was first published. A real eye-opener on life in Soviet-occupied Estonia.

I am tracing the roots of my Estonian heritage for trip to my grandparents birth place this summer and found this excellent preparation for understanding my heritage.
Rein's writing is accessable readable and informative. This book is a suspenceful and heartfelt pageturner, as well as being well researched. Rein chose to write 'Estonia' in a personal style rather than an academic one and succeeded beautifully.
I don't think I could have read it to the end if I didn't know that the outcome was a good one.
I chose to deduct one star only because I found the last few chapters to be bogged down with more detail than I was able to digest, but all in all I found this book to be an inspirational narrative of the survival of a small ethnolinguistic community who struggled towards and ultimately won Independence against insurmaountable odds!