This is a well-researched study by Miklós Zeidler, assistant professor of history at Éötvös Loránd University in Budapest, about the repercussions of the post-World War I Treaty of Trianon, signed in 1920 between Hungary and the victorious Allies, viewed from the Hungarian perspective. The movement for revision of the treaty dominated the political, social, and economic life of Hungary for the better part of the twentieth century as Trianon resulted in the loss of two thirds of Hungary's territory and over three-fifths of its population and still influences Hungarian political policy and public opinion to this day.

Viewed within the larger historiographical framework, the book includes research on the topic in the official papers of the Hungarian Revisionist League and those of its president, Ferenc Herczeg, and the speeches of Hungarian Prime Minister Count István Bethlen and Count Albert Apponyi, the Grand Old Man of Hungarian diplomacy. Mentioned too are scholars and political figures of the interwar period: Hugh Seton-Watson, C. A. Macartney, Harold W. V. Temperley, Harold Nicolson, Tomás Masaryk, István Bibó, and Ferenc Deák, as well as the present-day historians Ignác Romsics, Peter Pastor, and John C. Swanson.

The book recounts the evolution of Hungarian revisionist foreign policy in the period from 1918 to 1933. It outlines the first major campaign in support of Hungarian revisionism, which was sparked by the British press magnate Lord Rothermere, and closely examines the Hungarian-based Frontier Readjustment League. It covers preparations for territorial revision within Hungary from 1933 to 1938 and examines irredentism in public life and its everyday aspects. Finally, it explains the two Vienna Awards, which resulted in Hungary regaining some of the territory and population lost in 1920, and the onset of World War II. A brief afterword covers the Paris Peace Treaty that officially brought the war in Hungary to an end on 10 February 1947 and recounts the reestablishment of Hungary's 1937 borders. The author closes with an assessment of Hungary's foreign policy goals that have emerged since the regime change of 1989 and a cautiously hopeful outlook for a more stable Central Europe free of “unruly nationalisms” (294).

The chapters on irredentism dealing with the motifs and “symbols which can move masses” (182) of the irredentist cult provide some of the most fascinating and insightful analysis in this book. Zeidler describes the political anthropology of the revisionist cult, both in public and private life, in detail and with empathy. These two chapters are essential to understanding the emotional underpinnings of the Hungarian revisionist movement. Taken in a larger context, they also help serve to explain the passionate support of the global Hungarian Diaspora for the cause of revisionism.

It would have been helpful if, in this otherwise comprehensive and thoroughly researched work, Zeidler had more fully covered the Hungarian government's campaign in support of revisionism among the million or more Hungarians living abroad in countries such as the United States and Canada. He touches on the efforts of the Hungarian Frontier Readjustment League's activities abroad in a few pages (120–21) and mentions that offices were set up in Western Europe and South and North America. He also describes Eugene Pivány's fund-raising in the United States for the revisionist movement (121) but does not go into detail; yet the Hungarian government's aggressive propaganda and fund-raising campaign within the Hungarian communities abroad was an important factor in their support of revisionism and provided financial support for the cause. In order to understand the entire scope of the revisionist movement, it would have been useful if all aspects of the worldwide campaign had been covered in greater detail.

The illustrations for the book are particularly well chosen and strongly reinforce the text. The maps are useful in understanding the complexity of the geographic and population problems encountered in revising Hungary's borders. The author relies a great deal on secondary sources, although the critical lack of a bibliography makes evaluation of the primary and secondary sources difficult. A full index, rather than just names, would have been helpful.

The research in this book will go a long way toward explaining to Western scholars the complex reasons underlying Hungary's decisions regarding alignments and policy in the interwar period. It is highly recommended and a welcome addition to scholarship on the subject.