Hungarian Borderlands: From the Habsburg Empire to the Axis Alliance, the Warsaw Pact and the European Union

Preface \ I.  State of Flux, 1914-1945 \ 1.  The incredible lightness of borders \ 2.  The aftermath of defeat \ 3.  Expansion and Contraction \ II.  Bordering on Insanity, 1945-1989 \ 4.  Before the Iron curtain \ 5.  The Stalin Era \ 6.  From Minefields to Electric Fences \ 7.  The Collapse of the Iron Curtain \ III.  Reversal \ 8.  The emergence of a new Europe \ 9.  From one edge to another \ 10.  Inside Schengenland \ 11.  Beyond Schengenland \ 12.  Hungary and Arizona \ Conclusion \ Glossary \ Terms and Phrases \ Place Names \ Endnotes \ Bibliography

The publication of this perceptive analysis of the country's borders from the early twentieth century to the present provides a unique case study of statefrontier evolution in response to a range of internal and external forces. Furthermore, it highlights the ambiguities and complexities that face a small state caught between powerful regional neighbours. Finely-researched and elegantly written, Frank Schubert's book is also opportune.
Schubert's book...captures past and present border events with an eye for detail, individual suffering, material realities and a warning about the dangers of mythologising certain aspects of life in the borderlands while repressing others. It is an elegant narrative about an explosive historical past... It is a multi-levelled account which deserves praise for its balanced approach to such an imbalanced subject.
The volume provides an excellent combination of traditional history, local stories, and personal experience ... an interesting and illuminating read for both specialists and general readers.