The Other Europe: Eastern Europe to 1945

Unlike most history books on the region Walters takes you through the history of Eastern Europe chronologically but breaks down each chapter in sections for each country. This is nice if you want to reference the history of say Albania in the in 1920's and do not want to search or read the whole chapter. However because the narrative is disjointed it can be difficult to draw inferences about relations between nations. Also if read from cover to cover the story gets confusing as you jump from country to country.

This book can serve as a good introduction to anyone interested in studying Eastern Europe. Read this book, and then go on to more detailed works. In the back, Walters has an excellent bibliography.