This is a learned and intriguing book covering the span of modern history of East Central Europe as well as the Balkans. The scope of the book is broad, including various theoretical approaches, historical analysis, and a rich discussion of economics. There is a particularly interesting description of technological innovations' impact on the region's economic and political structure. Unlike some earlier books on the region, which tended to treat Eastern Europe as a region outside the international context, Andrew Janos's work does an excellent job of both relating the impact of events in the “center” of the international system on the region and providing an outstanding comparison to Latin America, the other quasi-“peripheral” region of the international system during the last 300 years.