Bridging the European Divide: Middle Power Politics and Regional Security Dilemmas. By Joshua B. Spero. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. 360p. $75.00.

The focus of this work is narrower than the title implies. It is actually a close study of the policies of Poland's first noncommunist foreign minister, Krystof Skubiszewski, who served all four Solidarnosc-based governments, 1989–93, and thus set Poland on its present course. Joshua Spero abundantly praises Skubiszewski for pursuing policies that not only safeguarded Poland's interests but kept Central Europe out of the traps of the interwar period.