Historical Dictionary of Slovakia

Stanislav J. Kirschbaum is professor and chairman of the Department of International Studies at York University’s bilingual Glendon College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to his appointment at York University, he has taught at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and has held visiting professorships at Université Laval in Quebec City, Université de Montréal and Trnavská univerzita in Trnava, Slovakia. He is a specialist in Central European politics, in particular security issues dealing with the region, and on the politics of Communist Czechoslovakia and Slovakia in the modern era, on which he has published extensively.

The dissolution of Czechoslovakia on November 25, 1992 (the 'Gentle Divorce') gave birth to the Second Republic of Slovakia on January 1, 1993. Until then, except for the six-year period, 1939-45, of the First Republic of Slovakia, the Slovaks had been part of other nations–Moravia, Hungary, and twice Czechoslovakia. Thus, with independence, the Slovaks were able to fulfill a deep sense of self-identity. Kirschbaum has written all three editions of this title (2nd ed., 2007; 1st ed., CH, Jun'99, 36-5420), using the same format of chronology, introduction, dictionary, and bibliography. In this volume, the chronology is updated to June 29, 2013. The 1,000-plus expanded dictionary entries on people, places, things, and events are broad in scope and complement the introduction. Throughout, the author discusses the challenges Slovakia has met since independence. The bibliography is extensive and divided into sections titled 'General,' 'Culture,' 'Economics,' 'History,' and 'Society.'. . . . .Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers.