This collection has its origins in the papers presented at the first conference organized by the Forum of British, Czech, and Slovak Historians, and focuses on nationalism and the radical right as predominant themes in Czechoslovak history from 1918 to 1948.

Several articles cover the interwar period. Eagle Glassheim shows how pursuit of a corporatist third way made Fascism attractive to many Czech aristocrats, who feared equality and democracy as threats to their social and economic power. Melissa Feinberg, in a balanced essay that is one of the few in this collection to take religion seriously, examines the views of Czech feminists and Czech Catholic women on issues of gender and nationalism. Among other things, she examines the connection among women's rights, democracy, family, and Czech nationalism. Catherine Albrecht provides a thorough presentation and assessment of the ethnic implications of Czechoslovakia's economic policy from 1918 to the 1930s, with a particular focus on the national defense associations and the issues of ownership, employment, and colonization. Robert Pynsent's fascinating contribution on the Czechoslovak Legions, as presented through the work of two novelists of the time, helps us see the darker side of the legionary experience and literature (e.g., anti-Semitism, sexual abuse, and child soldiers). This article does presuppose an ample acquaintance with the Legions, making it one of the few contributions that does not accord with the editor's goal of making the book's findings “broadly accessible.”

Although the collection includes three historians from North America and one from Germany among its thirteen contributors, curiously none are from Slovakia. Nevertheless, Slovak history receives ample attention. Relations between Slovaks and Czechs are covered in contributions by Jan Rychlík and Jiří Kocian. Rychlík gives a balanced account and discusses the pre-1918 roots of Slovak-Czech misunderstandings particularly well, though he pays scant attention to the religious dimension of Czech-Slovak differences and uses the term “totalitarian” too loosely in describing Ludak policies in 1936. Kocian's article covers 1944–1948, wartime Slovakia is treated by Tatjana Tönsmeyer, and R. J. W. Evans examines the cultural and psychological dimensions of Czech-Slovak-Hungarian relations, focusing on the writings of key contributors to mutual perceptions among the groups, from Bela Grünwald in the 1870s to Vladimír Clementis in the 1940s.

Other contributions include Mark Dimond's survey of the Sokol movement from 1918–1948 and Zdenĕk Radvanovský's examination of the postwar expulsion of the Germans, though the latter omits any reference to why the expulsions may have been a mistake. Vít Smetana examines British-Czechoslovak relations in 1938–1939 and 1947–1948, drawing parallels in what he describes as a tragic story of British impotence. In both cases, developments in Czechoslovakia provided a catalyst for a change in British foreign policy after a brief period of appeasement. Smetana also reminds us of the extent to which Czechoslovakia itself accommodated Stalin's Russia after the war, with the government applauding Soviet attacks on “American dollar imperialism” at the Paris Peace Conference, secretly allowing the Soviets to occupy the strategically important uranium mines in Jáchymov and returning Polish political refugees to the Polish Communist secret police. The collection concludes with Keith Robbins on the Munich Agreement. Robbins notes that Britain today is itself facing the sort of complex bundle of issues connected with ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity that Czechoslovakia faced in the 1930s and which many British at the time found so incomprehensible.

Mark Cornwall argues that had the Czechoslovak government been more flexible and more daring, it might have been able to reach an accommodation with Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German movement. Cornwall notes the variety of options that the Sudeten German Party flirted with in the mid 1930s and its uncertainty over which path to pursue. According to Cornwall, the government's tactics did much to push the Sudeten German Party in a fully pan-German direction. Cornwell comes dangerously close to “blaming the victim,” and it is hard to see how any accommodation with Henlein could have avoided handing control of Czechoslovakia's predominately German regions over to a violent and unsavory movement. At the same time, Cornwell raises a question of vital importance in today's world where groups like Hamas raise similar questions: that is, can a violent insurgency be moderated through a more accommodating policy?

In bringing together a number of leading experts in the field to present accessible, up-to-date examinations of a number of important facets of Czechoslovak history during the 1918–1948 period, this collection provides an important service to the field of East Central European history.