Kornai presents an assessment of Hungary's transition from a socialist to a market economy. In a comprehensive critique of socialist economy reform, Kornai explains how the system's ideological and political attributes deny the idea of market socialism. Kornai provides examples of Hungary's economoc stabilization and conditions for its sustainable growth.

Eastern Europe is a historical concept, Niederhauser asserts, and as such is subject to the movement of history that often takes place under geographical conditions. A History of Eastern Europe Since the Middle Ages surveys the first five hundred years of Eastern European history, focusing on structural elements in the early period such as the lack of organized states or the existence of nomadic states. The book examines the disappearance, assimilation, and recurrence of ethnic cultures over time and how the intermixing of cultures influenced the formation of modern states.

The Danube region has a history of ethnic conflicts and a revolutionary tradition against expansionism. Germany and Russia have both tried to develop versions of confederations and politicians have proposed initiatives for various formations. This text examines why these initiatives have failed.

Thirteen essays by noted authorities, including Ferenc Glatz, Laszlo Szarka, Pal Peter Toth, and Judit Toth, cover such topics as the history of minority policies in Hungary, immigration and xenophobia from the middle to the end of the twentieth century, and the concept of the nation at the beginning of the twenty-first century.