Modern nationalism in northeastern Europe has often led to violence and then reconciliation between nations with bloody pasts. In this study, Timothy Snyder traces the emergence of Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Belarusian nationhood over four centuries. He discusses various atrocities (including the first account of the massive Ukrainian-Polish ethnic cleansings of the 1940s), and examines Poland's successful negotiations with its newly independent Eastern neighbours, as it has channelled national interest toward peace.