Baltic : The Future of Europe (s)

THE MUST-READ BOOK ON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FLASHPOINT & A BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR - chosen by PETER FRANKOPAN.

'Fascinating ... essential reading' Helen Thompson

'Alarming and uplifting' John Kampfner

'Magnificent ... As exciting to read as it is important' Peter Frankopan.

The Baltic's time has come. It is not only critical to Europe's security and increasingly a centre of political and military power in its own right; it is a reservoir of ideas and experiences that could shape the continent's future.

The Baltic offers by far the most successful examples of the reintegration of Europe's old capitalist and communist blocs. It abounds in pioneering environmental initiatives, ranging from the world's first geological "forever" storage facility for nuclear waste in Finland to its first "zero waste" community, on the Danish island of Bornholm. Brutalised by the 20th century, the rebounding economies of Poland, Finland and Estonia are case studies in the mobilisation of social resources and the transformative power of technology.

This books explores the history, their culture, their peculiarities and national dilemmas of all nine Baltic countries. At its core is a search for fresh answers to Europe's problems, at a point where the continent's previously dominant powers appear tired and divided. It is structured around reports from 13 places in the hinterland of the Baltic sea, each of which embodies a conundrum of wider relevance but is also fascinating in its own right. Baltic is based on well over a hundred interviews with heads of state and government, ministers, politicians, retired political leaders, military commanders, diplomats, NATO and intelligence officials, scholars, analysts and ordinary citizens. It leaves the people of the Baltic countries to speak for themselves, suspending the twin tendencies to either judge or romanticise them. Now more than ever, the rest of the West needs their perspectives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Oliver Moody is Berlin correspondent at The Times and Sunday Times, covering Germany, Scandinavia, central Europe and the Baltics. He joined The Times’s graduate trainee scheme in 2011 and has since worked for the newspaper as a general reporter, leader writer, and science correspondent before moving to Berlin in 2018. The same year he was named science and data commentator and young commentator of the year at the UK Comment Awards.  

MEDIA REVIEWS

Moody has extensively travelled around the Baltic Sea and written a fascinating book on its changing politics in the shadow of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Baltic is essential reading for beginning to understand the present tumult in Europe as part of long European history - Helen Thompson, author of DISORDER

There are countries that take on Russia, and countries that don't. In this masterful account of political and societal resistance, Moody travels across Poland, the Baltics and the Nordics describing how this part of Europe understood Putin long before the rest. Mixing deep research with vivid reportage and a clear-sighted argument, this essential book is in turns alarming and uplifting - John Kampfner, author of WHY THE GERMANS DO IT BETTER

This is a brilliantly written book on an area about which many in Britain know little but they will now no longer have any excuse for remaining ignorant. Moody takes us through the entire Baltic sea littoral to show us how it is the frontline in the confrontation with Vladimir Putin and how it has much to teach us - Brendan Simms, author of EUROPE: THE STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY

An absolute must-read - Andrew Marr

This is a fascinating and original book examining the nine Baltic sea countries, looking at their troubled history and their current resurgence within Europe. Elegantly written and fizzing with fresh insights, this is an important and definitive study - Frank McDonough, author of THE WEIMAR YEARS

Oliver Moody's lucid and accessible book sheds light on one of the most crucial yet least understood places in Europe. Baltic is a tour de force, somehow packing the mind-boggling complexity of the region into a captivating page-turner - Katja Hoyer, author of BEYOND THE WALL

Magnificent. An outstanding book that underlines the critical importance of the Baltic that is as exciting to read as it is important - Peter Frankopan, author of THE SILK ROADS

The Baltic emerges in Moody's well-researched book as an East-West borderland shadowed by Slav-Teuton antagonisms . . . urgent - TLS

Brilliantly written, convincingly argued and compelling... Moody's truly impressive achievement in this book is to provide a detailed explanation of the background to the Balticconflict - Literary Review

This timely and insightful book charts the self-confident rise and importance of the countries of the Baltic sea region and the need to listen to them as the focus of geopolitics shifts steadily eastwards. It analyses thoroughly the context of Russia's war upon the Ukraine, explains the central and increasing significance of hybrid "grey zone" forms of conflict and examines Russia's complex and dangerous motivations. Oliver Moody argues that the Baltic needs to be understood coherently in its own terms and not just as the eastern end of western Europe, and so shows the ways in which the "West" can win this decisive conflict - Charles Clarke, former UK home secretary

An insightful and thought-provoking book about a fascinating region of the world - Marcel Dirsus, author of HOW TYRANTS FALL

In these geopolitically volatile times, much international attention is paid to the Taiwan Straits and the battlefields of Ukraine, but too little to the Baltic Sea. Oliver Moody explains its strategic relevance, and offers important insight into why the nine countries bordering the Baltic face very similar problems, but often look at them in entirely different ways - Helene von Bismarck, historian and author

Timely and insightful - The Times

A timely analysis . . . well-researched - Financial Times

A rigorous study . . . the region is one of the least understood places and the author explains both its historical trajectory and strategic relevance - Irish Times

Grim, prophetic and as gripping as any fictional thriller . . . Hard to put down - Spectator

Brilliantly-written . . . this region, which many in western Europe still view as peripheral, is actually central to current events and, crucially, to the future of the west itself - Daily Express, Books of the Year

A brilliant blend of history and reportage - as well as a primer for why this area is central to the world of tomorrow - BBC History Magazine, Books of the Year