Historical Dictionary of Latvia

By (author) Aldis Purs, Andrejs Plakans

Publication date:

02 May 2017

Length of book:

442 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781538102206

Latvia is located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. After a brief period of independence between the two World Wars, Latvia was annexed by the USSR in 1940. It reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although the last Russian troops left in 1994. Latvia continues to revamp its economy for eventual integration into various Western European political and economic institutions. Since May 2004 Latvia is a member of the European Union.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Latvia contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Latvia.

Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff
Preface
Reader’s Note
Acknowledgements
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Chronology
Introduction
THE DICTIONARY
Appendix: Past and Present Governments of the Territory of Contemporary Latvia
Bibliography
About the Author

In this third edition, historians Plakans, author of Baltic Facades, and Purs expand the content of the second edition by about 100 pages, which was over 200 pages longer than the first edition; both of these earlier works were authored by Plakans alone. Following the format of the ‘Historical Dictionaries of Europe’ series, this volume includes a section on acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, an introduction, the A–Z entries of the dictionary proper, four appendixes, and a bibliography. The dictionary features almost 550 entries in this current iteration, including new entries on the LGBT movement, athletes, politicians, clergy, musical groups, and popular culture in Latvia. The bibliography expanded by only a few pages and is structured much like the second edition but now includes some sources neglected in previous editions. It is recommended as a replacement for the earlier editions as well as Plakans's The A to Z of Latvia (2010) because this volume includes key topics not treated in earlier reference works about Latvia. If a library seeks a single reference work in English about historical and contemporary Latvia, this edition is it.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers; professionals/practitioners.