These titles provide excellent starting points for students striving to understand the complex political situations in two very disparate regions of the world, especially the current conflict in the Balkans.

The political make-up of both areas was largely determined at international conferences following the two World Wars, and an overview of these-events, as well as pertinent historical and geographical detail is provided in introductory chapters which are concisely yet clearly written.

Power broking between the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union after 1945 resulted in the creation of 'Eastern Europe', an essentially political definition for eight countries which 'had at least as many differences as they had similarities'.

Bernard Harbor gives an absorbing account of the revolutions which began in 1989, and provides a thoughtful and realistic appraisal of the political, religious and ethnic conflicts which followed as fledgling democracies struggled to form effective governments. The harsh economic realities and the disillusionment felt by Eastern Europeans who expected a quick and easy transformation to Western life-styles is also well documented and explained.

Dr John King has opted for a series of double-page spread 'chapters' covering topics such as '1948 and Israel', 'Suez and Nasser', 'Terrorism and the PLO' and 'The Gulf War'. Whilst covering a lot of ground and providing a useful historical sequence of the main protagonists and events, this piecemeal format does occasionally leave the reader, like Oliver Twist, asking for more.

Excellent maps, well-chosen photographs and a further information section which includes novels and films as well as non-fiction books, round off these fascinating narratives.