The Glass Wall

August 15, 2021
The rich and tragic history of an obscure part of the world: the eastern Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia. Egremont dives deep into the story of the Baltic frontier, an area largely controlled by foreign powers since the 12th century. Colonized by Russia, Sweden, and Germany, invaded by the Nazis and then the Red Army, the people of the Baltic have suffered domination imposed by outsiders since the days of the Crusades. The author paints an astute portrait of the Baltic Germans, the aristocracy that moved in by papal invitation during the Crusades and accumulated land, money, and power until World War I. He capably re-creates their vanished cultural world: poetry readings, croquet, halls lined with works by the old masters. But in this geographically vulnerable part of Europe, wealth was no protection against invasion. In World War II, Hitler ordered the Baltic Germans to move to a conquered area of Poland, and the Jews they relied on were executed, many shipped to concentration camps. Latvians and Estonians were drafted into the German army, and the Nazis laid plans for mass deportations of Estonians, Latvians, and their neighboring Lithuanians. After World War II, anyone perceived as an opponent of the Soviet-led regime was sent to labor camps in the Soviet Union. Today, both countries are independent republics, and one Estonian observes, "there's no class system. It's money that counts now." The Russian threat is never far away, and the locals stockpile petrol and strategize the quickest way out of the country in the event of an invasion. Egremont seems to have read every Baltic German novelist, visited every notable town, and tracked down every living witness to its history. The narrative sometimes meanders, but the book contains a helpful gazetteer and chronology. The text requires serious concentration, but diligent readers are rewarded with a near-total immersion into a land, its people, and the harrowing arc of its history. An intricately layered account of the eastern Baltic, a land shaped by colonization, revolution, deportation, and murder.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2021
Historian and novelist Egremont (Some Desperate Glory) delivers a lyrical if scattershot portrait of the Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia. Visiting towns, estates, churches, and castles “made, destroyed and remade over centuries,” he describes a history of conquest and subjugation from the Crusades in the Middle Ages up through the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Highlighting the region’s long history of being dominated by outsiders, Egremont profiles George Armistead, the Latvian-born son of a British merchant family who became mayor of Riga in 1901, and delves into the love affairs of European aristocrats in the Baltic countryside, noting that the novel The Leopard was inspired by author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s relationship with his Latvian German wife, Alexandra von Wolff. Unfortunately, Egremont doesn’t shed much light on current tensions between the Baltic countries and neighboring Russia, and his interviews with elderly locals fail to clarify if they’re better off today (when “money rules now instead of occupiers”) than they were under the Germans or the Soviets. Those looking for insights into contemporary Baltic life and the region’s future will be disappointed. Despite Egremont’s evocative prose and deep knowledge of the region, this travelogue is stuck in the past.

December 3, 2021

Traveling through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, historian Egremont (Some Desperate Glory; Siegfried Sassoon: A Life) examines each country and its complicated history. Centuries of invasion have had far-reaching effects on the Baltic countries. The Northern Crusades brought conquerors from the West; the Russian Empire brought overlords from the East. Regardless of the subjugator, the native population remained oppressed. During a brief period of independence between the First and Second World Wars, there was a resurgence of native languages and identity. In 1939, the countries were once again occupied by Germans and Russians, followed by being on the front lines between Germany and Russia as they turned from allies to enemies. Having to choose between two evil forces, many joined the Nazi Party. That choice continues to reverberate, as does absorption into the Soviet Union after the 1945 Yalta conference. Egremont balances a historical perspective with observations by current citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, once again independent after the Soviet Union disintegrated in the 1990s. VERDICT Offering no easy answers but plenty to think about, this book will be of interest to readers interested in Eastern European history and current events.--Laurie Unger Skinner, Highland Park P.L., IL

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.