The Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies is proud to announce the publication of Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz’s groundbreaking new study on Central and Eastern Europe, Intermarium: The Land between the Black and Baltic Seas, by Transaction Publishers.
Purchase the monograph from Transaction Publishers Buy on Amazon
Description
History and collective memories influence a nation, its culture, and institutions; hence, its domestic politics and foreign policy. That is the case in the Intermarium, the land between the Baltic and Black Seas in Eastern Europe. The area is the last unabashed rampart of Western Civilization in the East, and a point of convergence of disparate cultures.
Marek Jan Chodakiewicz focuses on the Intermarium for several reasons. Most importantly because, as the inheritor of the freedom and rights stemming from the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian/Ruthenian Commonwealth, it is culturally and ideologically compatible with American national interests. It is also a gateway to both East and West. Since the Intermarium is the most stable part of the post-Soviet area, Chodakiewicz argues that the United States should focus on solidifying its influence there. The ongoing political and economic success of the Intermarium states under American sponsorship undermines the totalitarian enemies of freedom all over the world. As such, the area can act as a springboard to addressing the rest of the successor states, including those in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation.
Intermarium has operated successfully for several centuries. It is the most inclusive political concept within the framework of the Commonwealth. By reintroducing the concept of the Intermarium into intellectual discourse, the author highlights the autonomous and independent nature of the area. This is a brilliant and innovative addition to European Studies and World Culture.
Editorial Reviews
“The Intermarium is one of the most culturally and politically significant regions of Europe. Yet historians and journalists too often limit themselves to a consideration of interests of the powers that have ravaged it. In this fascinating and deeply researched book, Marek Jan Chodakiewicz restores the region’s separate identity. He shows the interplay of its peoples and their often tragic destinies, but also the traditional love of freedom that makes the Intermarium a vital source of support for the ideals of the West.”
-David Satter, Hudson Institute; Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
“Dr. Chodakiewciz’s unprecedented, long-overdue impeccably researched and extraordinarily well-argued study directly challenges the common view of the Intermarium as mere borderland between the “West” and Russia. Professor Chodakiewicz’s clarity of thought, highly readable prose, impressive command of 1,000 years of the area’s history, and his unique perspectives gleaned from expert analysis of a multitude of foreign archival material rarely seen in English compel all those in academia, the US government, and the US foreign policy establishment to overturn the Moscow-centric approach to the Intermarium that has governed US foreign policy for the last 70 years.”
-Dr. Robert W. Stephan (CIA Ret), Adjunct Professor Institute of World Politics; author, Stalin’s Secret War, Soviet Counterintelligence against the Nazis 1941-1945
“Intermarium: The Land between the Black and Baltic Seas is an important, path breaking work. It serves to redefine our conceptualization of the European world.The comparison of [Chodakiewicz’s] efforts with those of Raul Hilberg is on target.”
-Irving Louis Horowitz, Hannah Arendt Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University
“This extraordinary new book by Professor Marek Chodakiewicz, a scholarly yet eminently readable and engaging tour de force, should establish his reputation as one of the most erudite historians of what is generally known as Central and Eastern Europe writing in the United States today. Ever the iconoclast, Professor Chodakiewicz exposes a plethora of inaccuracies and disinformation about this region promoted by Russian-and later Soviet-imperialist narratives, exacerbated by varying American biases which, over the course of more than a century, have resulted in a grossly distorted understanding of this critical part of the Western world which, in turn, prevents a clear appreciation of its own heritage rooted in the ideology of freedom. Many in academia will find his analyses unsettling; but no honest reader can fail to be impressed by the thoroughly researched arguments and the enormous breadth of his perspective. Intermarium is a breathtaking accomplishment.”
-Juliana Geran Pilon, director, Center for Culture and Security Institute of World Politics
“Based on noble ideals obscured by layers of colonialism from East and West, Chodakiewicz’s vision of Eastern Europe’s potential is boldly drawn and elegantly written.”
-Ewa Thompson, research professor of Slavic Studies, Rice University
“In this broad-minded and generous work written in the spirit of Oskar Halecki and Norman Davies, Chodakiewicz explores both the history and the contemporary problems of the lands between the Baltic and Black Seas. His work will prove essential for both academics and policy makers as well as any reader seeking a deeper understanding of the complexity and diversity of east-central Europe.”
-John Radzilowski, University of Alaska Southeast