Recovering a Vanished World

The Eastern Europe that existed before the horrors of the 20th century was a world of ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity and relative tolerance, "a kind of ramshackle utopia" with "many peoples and faiths and languages arranging themselves in a loose symbiosis" that had lasted centuries, according to journalist and author Jacob Mikanowski in his new book, "Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land." Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine evokes memories of the region's darkest days, rather than the history and traditions Mikanowski beautifully writes about. In this episode, the author discusses the region's forgotten past with an eye toward a better future.