{"product_id":"estonia-by-neil-taylor-9781805263159","title":"Estonia","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Russia rattles its sabres in the Baltic, Neil Taylor reconsiders the history of Estonia and its struggle to achieve statehood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith only 1.3 million inhabitants, Estonia is one of Europe's least populous nations, yet it boasts one of the continent's fastest growing economies. In the first serious English-language history of this small Baltic state, Neil Taylor charts Estonia's long, arduous journey to its present-day prosperity, through a thousand years of occupation by Danes, Swedes, Germans and Russians.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the wake of the First World War, out of the heat of a national awakening and the collapse of the Russian and German empires, Estonia was recognised as an independent nation in 1920. This was not to last; the country was tossed between the Soviets and Nazis during the Second World War, then fully integrated into the USSR, bringing on more than half a century of renewed occupation and misery. But hopes of true independence never dimmed and, in 1991, the Republic of Estonia was restored.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis unflinching history includes charming moments of colour and levity, from ambassadorial reports on nude bathing and a presidential press conference deliberately held beside a dirty toilet, to the story of a blind pianist, the first foreigner allowed to visit the city of Tartu in the Soviet era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47486051549420,"sku":"9781805263159","price":44.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/bb0cbd90dbeb5205d73ed15d3b7ec12d.jpg?v=1775782887","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/estonia-by-neil-taylor-9781805263159","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}