Customer Reviews

Witness to History: The Memoirs of Mauno Koivisto, President of Finland 1982 - 1994

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Mauno Koivisto was President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. Ths book is a series of snapshots of events and discussions he was involved in as President, together with commentary on various aspects of Finland's involvement, largely from a foreign policy perspective and uniquely focused on Finland's role as a close neighbour of the Soviet Union. The conflict between the Soviet Union's desire to draw Finland ever more closely into the Soviet orbit, and Finland's desire, and continuing policy of remaining neutral is clearly stated and illustrated.

The book is set out as a series of very disjointed accounts of various meetings and events. The reader is pretty much left to piece these together as best they can. The focus is overwhelmingly on foreign affairs, with pretty much nothing on events internal to Finland. As such, it's more of an ancillary resource for anyone interested in Finland's role in international affairs, partiularly the ongoing US-Soviet negotiations, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regaining of independance by the Baltic States. We also get Koivisto's take on "Finlandization" and how Finland tried to balance off the need to maintain good relations with the Soviet Union vis-a-vis their desire to maintain their independance.

An interesting read, but without any prior knowledge of Finland, Finnish history and the circumstances and events of Finland's involvement in WW2, it would be difficult for a reader to put in context much of what Koivisto relates. One also needs to keep in mind that this book was written initially for a Finnish audience who would know this.