Books that cannot be accommodated in our book review section but that are worthy of special attention are listed here with their tables of contents.

Ringdal, Kristen, Ramet, Sabrina P., and Fink-Hafner, Danica, eds. Small States, Big Challenges: Norway and Slovenia in Comparative Perspective. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2016. 346 pp. Notes. Tables. Figures. €69.00, paper.

Kristen Ringdal, Sabrina P. Ramet, and Danica Fink-Hafner, Comparing Two Small States, Norway and Slovenia: An Introduction. Part One – The System & Democratic Cultures. Kristen Ringdal and Mitja Hafner-Fink, Changes and Stability in Democratic Cultures Norway and Slovenia 1990 – 2008. Alenka Krašovec and Ola Listhaug, Political Parties in Norway and Slovenia. Toril Aalberg and Marko Milosavljević, The Norwegian and Slovenian Media System Compared. Ola Svein Stugu and Peter Vodopivec, Narratives of the Nation History Textbooks and National Identities in Norway and Slovenia. Part Two – Gender Equality & Religion. Anders Todal Jenssen and Aleksandra Kanjuo-Mrcela Gender Equality in Norway and Slovenia. Marjan Smrke, The Roman Catholic Church in Post-Socialist Slovenia: From Pride to Decapitation. Christine M. Hassenstab with Sabrina P. Ramet, The Norwegian Church: From the Reformation to Partial Disestablishment. Part Three – The Economy & the Environment. Jože Mencinger and Jonathon Moses, Economic developments in Slovenia and Norway. Matej Knep, Slovenia: An Environmental Leader, a Laggard or Both? Espen Moe, Environmental Issues in Norway. Part Four – Foreign Relations. Damjan Lajh and Jonathon Moses, Relations with the EU. Torbjørn L. Knutsen and Zlatko Šabič, Norwegian and Slovenian Foreign Policy.

Fielitz, Maik and Laloire, Laura Lotte, eds. Trouble on the Far Right: National Strategies and Local Practices Challenging Europe. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2016. 208 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Illustrations. Photographs. €19.99, paper.

. . . To Begin With. Maik Fielitz and Laura Lotte Laloire, Trouble on the Far Right – Introductory Remarks. Liz Fekete, Europe's Far Right in Flux. . . .  At the Ballot Box. Stijn van Kessel, No One-Trick Ponies – The Multifaceted Appeal of the Populist Radical Right. Bernhard Weidinger, The Far Right in Austria – Small on the Streets, Big in Parliament. Mihnea-Simion Stoica, The Turning Fortunes of Romania's Far Right – The Rise and Fall of Greater Romania Party. Mathias Schmidt, Svoboda and the Restructuring of Ukrainian Nationalism. . . . On The Street. Holger Marcks, Don't Call Me Right! The Strategy of Normalization in German Right-Wing Extremism. Oliver Saal, On Patrol with the New German Vigilantes. Heiko Koch, CasaPound Italia – The Fascist Hybrid. Caterina Froio, Who are ‘They’? Continuities and Changes in the Discourse of CasaPound Italia on Migration and Otherness. Angélique Kourounis, What's in the Mind of the Neo-Nazi Next Door? A Personal Reflection on the Rise and Persistence of Golden Dawn in Greece. . . . Over Cultural Hegemony. Natascha Strobl and Julian Bruns, Preparing for (Intellectual) Civil War – The New Right in Austria and Germany. Samuel Bouron, The Strategy of the French Identitaires – Entering Politics through the Media. Tamir Bar-On, Arguing with the Nouvelle Droite – Substantive Debate, Partisan Polemics or Truth-Seeking? Laura Lotte Laloire, Black Sheep in a Far-Right Zoo? Fethullah Gülen's Strategy of ‘Non-Violence.’ Halina Gąsiorowska, Women and their Rights in the Nationalists' Strategies – Abortion as a Contentious Issue in the Polish ‘Culture War.’. . . Underground. Daniel Koehler, A Warfare Mindset – Right-Wing Extremism and ‘Counter-State Terror’ as a Threat for Western Democracies. Alex Carter, Right-Wing Terrorism and Hate Crime in the UK: A Historical Perspective. . . . Within. Graham Macklin, Patterns of Far-Right and Anti-Muslim Mobilization in the United Kingdom. Oula Silvennoinen, But – Where Do These People Come From? The (Re)Emergence of Radical Nationalism in Finland. Yordan Kutiyski, The Far Right in Latvia – Should We Be Worried? (Matthew Kott). The Achilles’ Heel of Bulgaria's Patriotic Front. Maik Fielitz, The Changing Faces of Neo-Nazism – Militant Far-Right Activism in Greece.

Knodt, Michèle and Urdze, Sigita, eds. Caucasus, the EU and Russia – Triangular Cooperation? Schriftenreihe des Arbeitskreises Europäische Integration e.V., 92. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2016. 231 pp. Notes. Figures. Tables. $74.00, paper

Michèle Knodt and Sigita Urdze, Introduction: Triangular Relations between the Caucasus, the EU and Russia. Uwe Halbach, The North and South Caucasus – Separated or Interlinked? Alexey Gunya, Timur Tenov, Murat Shogenov, and Aslan Chechenov, Analysis of Governance Strategies in the North Caucasian Republics with Respect to Conflict Regulation and Development. Tracey German, Conflict and Cooperation in the South Caucasus. Sigita Urdze and Michèle Knodt, The European Union's External Democracy Promotion in the South Caucasus: Assessing European Actions. Michèle Knodt and Sigita Urdze, The European Union's External Democracy Promotion in the South Caucasus: Explaining European Actions. Birgit Wetzel, Caucasia and its Geostrategic Importance: Energy Poker in Caucasia. Chiara Loda, Perception of the EU in Armenia: A View from the Government and Society. Elsevar Mammadov, EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation within the Eastern Partnership and Other Frameworks: The View from Azerbaijan's Foreign Policy Perspective. Levan Kakhishvili, Georgia – the Choice: The Perceived West-Russia Dichotomy in Georgian Politics. Aron Buzogany, The External Dimensions of the ‘Capabilities-Expectations Gap’: The Role of Public Opinion in EU-Georgia Relations. Ghia Nodia, The European Union, Democratic Values and Geopolitical Competition: The Roots of Confusion and Failure.

Lipovetsky, Mark, Postmodern Crises: From Lolita to Pussy Riot. Ars Rossica. Brighton: Academic Studies Press, 2017. 273 pp. Bibliography. Index. $79.00, hard bound.

Preface. Literature. The War of Discourses: Lolita and the Failure of a Transcendental Project. The Poetics of the ITR Discourse: In the 1960s and Today. The Progressor between the Imperial and the Colonial. Cycles and Continuities in Contemporary Russian Literature. Fleshing/Flashing the Discourse: Sorokin's Master Trope. Pussy Riot as the Trickstar. The Formal is Political. Film. Post-Soc: Transformations of Socialist Realism in the Popular Culture of the Late 1990s-Early 2000s. War as the Family Value: My Stepbrother Frankenstein by Valery Todorovsky. A Road of Violence: My Joy by Sergei Loznitsa. In Denial: The Geographer Drank His Globe Away by Aleksandr Veledinsky. Lost in Translation: Short Stories by Mikhail Segal.

Kozhanov, Nikolay, Russia and the Syrian Conflict: Moscow's Domestic, Regional and Strategic Interests. Berlin: Gerlach Press, 2016. 136 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $75.00, hard bound.

Introduction. 1. Russian Presence in the Middle East after the Fall of the Soviet Union. 2. The Disaster Called the Arab Spring. 3. Putin's Turn to the Middle East after 2012. 4. Why is Syria so Important? Moscow's Vision of its Tasks in Syria prior to the Beginning of Russian Military Deployment. 5. Russian Military Involvement in the Syrian Conflict: What Happens Next? 6. The Marriage of Convenience: Russian-Iranian Cooperation in Syria 7. Syria, the Middle East and Russian Propaganda. Conclusion.

Rotfeld, Adam Daniel and Torkunov, Anatoly V., eds. White Spots, Black Spots: Difficult Matters in Polish-Russian Relations 1918–2008. Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015. xi, 680 pp. Appendixes. Index. $65.00, hard bound.

Adam Daniel Rotfeld and Anatoly V. Torkunov, Introduction: In Search of the Truth: a Brief History of the Polish-Russian Group on Difficult Matters. Daria Nałecz, Tomasz Nałecz, and Gennady F. Matveyev, The Beginnings: Polish-Soviet Relations, 1917–1921. Wojciech Materski and Aleksandr V. Revyakin, The Interwar Period: Poland and the Soviet Union in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s. Sławomir Dębski and Mikhail M. Narinsky, The Causes of World War II: Poland, the Soviet Union, and the Crisis of the Versailles System. Albin Głowacki and Natalia S. Lebedeva, Poland between the Soviet Union and Germany, 1939–1941: The Red Army Invasion and the Fourth Partition of Poland. Andrzej Przewoźnik and Natalia S. Lebedeva, The Katyn Massacre: The Process of Revealing the Truth and Commemorating the Victims. Wojciech Materskiand Valentina S. Parsadanova, World War II, 1941–1945: Politics and Its Consequences. Włodzimierz Borodziej and Albina F. Noskova, The Postwar Decade, 1945–1955: Victory and Enslavement. Andrzej Paczkowski and Nikolai I. Bukharin, The Thaw: The Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, the Polish October, and the Struggle for Autonomy. Jerzy Pomianowski, Andrei V. Vorobyov, and Aleksandr V. Shubin, The Dissident Movement: The Way to Freedom in Culture. Andrzej Paczkowski and Inessa S. Yazhborovskaya, The Soviets and the Polish Crisis: The Road to Martial Law, 1980–1981. Włodzimierz Marciniak, Vladimir G. Baranovsky, and Boris A. Shmelyov, Regained Freedom and Sovereignty: Transformation Processes in Poland and Russia. Janusz Kaliński and Leonid B. Vardomsky, Assistance or Exploitation? Economic Relations between Poland and the Soviet Union. Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz and Artem V. Malgin, Russia versus Sovereign Poland: Political Relations between Poland and Russia since 1990. Andrzej Grajewski and Nikolai I. Bukharin, Continuity and Change: The Mutual Perceptions of Poles and Russians. Władysław Stępniak and Vladimir P. Kozlov, Heritage in Archives: Displaced Collections and Access to Archives. Appendix A. Reports on Sessions of the Group on Difficult Matters. Appendix B. The Letter of the Co-Chairs of the Group on Difficult Matters to the Foreign Ministers of Poland and Russia.

Máté-Tóth, András and Rosta, Gergely, eds. Focus on Religion in Central and Eastern Europe: A Regional View. Religion and Society, Volume 68. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Publishers, 2016. ix, 204 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Figures. Tables. $112.00, hard bound.

András Máté-Tóth and Zoltán Hajdú, The Region of Central and Eastern Europe: A Geography and Religious Studies Approach. Regina Polak and Gergely Rosta, Religion and Values in Central and Eastern Europe. Miklós Tomka and Réka Szilárdi, Religion and Nation. Daniela Kalkandjieva, Eastern Orthodoxy and Its Churches in Central and Eastern Europe. Gabriella Pusztai and Csilla Farkas D., Church-Related Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe Twenty Years after Political Transition. Rafał Smoczyński, Mapping New Religious Movements in Central and Eastern Europe: Approaching the Problem. Gábor Dániel Nagy, Sociology of Religion and Social Network Based Approaches in North America and Central and Eastern Europe: A Review.