BRUSSELS, June 28, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- "May 1, 2004, will be a milestone in the history of Europe. It is Europe's response to the end of the Cold War and an opportunity to heal the wounds of the past, wounds of war and dictatorship," says EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen. Given the magnitude of his jubilation, he can only refer to the recent accession of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary to the European Union after long domination by Soviet Russia, along with Bulgaria's and Romania's membership in NATO. This is a political and economic phenomenon chronicled by Donald Read Shanor and Constance Collier Shanor in their new book, After the Russians.
After the triumph of democracy over Communism, a long struggle lies ahead to achieve prosperity and true equality for the 113 million people of Eastern Europe. They will be given an enormous boost by their nations' membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union and their new links to the United States. The U.S. partnership carries risks and benefits for Americans. Eastern Europe joined the coalition in Iraq and has many U.S. bases on its soil. But the U.S., through NATO, is now pledged to defend a huge and often unstable region where domestic conflicts might flare over minority issues, and intervention from Russia and its allies cannot be ruled out.
In its close and thorough examination, After the Russians becomes an exceptional account of this new development in regional and international affairs. The authors, who have reported from Eastern Europe for more than three decades, bring to the outside world important insights into what could otherwise be another region with important issues far from the headlines.
About the Authors
Donald Shanor was the Eastern European correspondent of the Chicago Daily News and is the author of four previous books about the region. His book, Behind the Lines, was a finalist for the H.L. Mencken Award. He is Cabot Professor Emeritus at Columbia University and has degrees from Columbia and Northwestern. His book on foreign reporting, News from Abroad, was published in 2003 by Columbia University Press.
Constance Shanor has written about Eastern Europe for Made in Europe and the Chicago Daily News. She spent a year as a journalist in China. With her husband, Donald, she is the co-author of China Today, 1995. She is also a graduate of Northwestern and Columbia.
After the Russians by Donald Read Shanor & Constance Collier Shanor
Publication Date: March 17, 2004
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