Jason Lavery. The History of Finland. Greenwood Histories of The Modern Nations. Eds. Frank Thackeray and John E. Findling. Westport: Greenwod. 2006.

Jason Lavery's The History of Finland contributes a concise, fluid, comprehensive, and accessible account of the country's history to the

literature on Finland and the Nordic countries. Following an introductory chapter, the study proceeds chronologically. The introduction outlines the country's geography, climate, form of government, religions, educational system, economy, foreign policy, as well as sketches some of the special features of the country's historical experience. A subsequent chapter surveys the country's prehistory. The book then moves through chapters devoted to the conventional periods of Finnish history: a chapter on the Swedish period (1155-1809) is followed by two chapters on Finland as a grand duchy of Russia (1809-1917) (although the last of these concludes with a discussion of Finland's Civil War of 1918, which of course followed independence); a chapter on Finland between the World Wars; one on the country's three wars during the Second World War; one on the Cold War; and a final chapter on the post-Cold War era of globalization. The book moves between political history, economic history, and cultural history, creating a variegated account of the factors that have shaped Finland at various times. By writing a multifaceted and engaging history of Finland in just less than two hundred pages, Lavery furnishes us with the best short introduction to the country in English.

One of the reasons for the book's rich contribution is the perspective Lavery has developed on Finnish history in the lecture hall. Over more than a decade now, Lavery has delivered a two-week lecture series on Finnish history in the Helsinki Summer University. Although many of the attendees in the lecture series are foreign students taking summer classes in Helsinki, many others are Finns who come to listen to this public series. The lectures, then, have needed to address the student who may not know Finland well but probably has a comparative framework into which she can place the history of Finland. But they have also needed to address the Finnish attendee, who may know a good deal about Finnish history. Lavery's ability to relate a cohesive historical narrative to a diverse audience is evident throughout this book, and this quality sets ir apart from other accounts that tend to assume too little and too much at the same time, while also often assuming that the audience's knowledge of Finland is homogeneous. The History of Finland makes details of its historical narrative understandable by situating them in appropriate comparisons while forging a critical perspective that will pique the interest of readers who know Finland and her history well.

An instructive example of the balance between contextualization and critical perspective is evident in Lavery's refusal to assume the historical continuity of national self--understanding. "Applying the model of the modern nation--state does little to illuminate Finland's place in the kingdom of Sweden" he writes in speaking of the medieval period (31). In contrast, many Finnish historians' commonplace use of the word "our" [meidan] to speak of the past tacitly implies a continuity of national self--understanding linking the historian and the historical actors in the events under analysis. Lavery's critical perspective allows him to avoid such a framework. As a result, his argument opens up useful critiques of Finnish historiography. Lavery's perspective puts a different emphasis on conventional understandings of salient events in Finland's history such as her negotiations with the USSR over Soviet demands that led to Finland's Winter War, for example. Lavery's perspective might help pluralize historiographical positions, facilitating dialogue that could lead to enriched historical understanding.

Because of its length and scope, The History of Finland must pass quickly over many interesting moments in Finnish history. The relatively short chapters divided into subsections of one to three pages are evidence of the constraints imposed no doubt by the series editors. With more space, the book could have explored in greater detail the shaping role of cultural discourses, for instance, which contributed to the construction of a nation during the Autonomous Grand Duchy period, during which the construction of a sovereign state was impossible. The History of Finland succeeds nicely, however, in linking discussions of cultural, economic, political, and other factors within its limited space. That achievement makes Lavery's volume a valuable book for a variety of readers interested in deepening their understanding of Finland, as well as one worth having ready to hand on the shelf for Scandinavianists.

Andrew Nestingen

University of Washington