REVIEWS I85 period of I985-91 makes this part of the book somewhat galling for a reader looking for a concise overviewof perestroikain Ukraine. Although the concept of 'resurgence'featuresin the title, it is never defined. The use of the term seems to denote the willingnessof the oppressednation to rise to the challenges of dismantling imperial shackles and consolidating independence. The book restson the implicit,and yet contentious, premise of Ukrainians being a ready-made nation, which, despite being the largest in Europe, 'has been denied the right to self-determination'(p. xi) until i99i. This premise prevents the author from examining the complex interplay of social, culturaland political processes in Soviet Ukraine, which produced an array of motives, attitudes and views regarding 'national revival' and independence in the masses and elites and in differentregions both prior to and after the passage to independence. While tracing the manifestations of 'resurgence', Nahaylo focuses on the cultural intelligentsia, political eites, Western Ukraine and Kyiv but glosses over the patchy nature of mass mobilization;in particularthe Russophone regions of Ukraine are given thin coverage. Therefore, the book falls short of advancing the understandingof the intricate nature of the Soviet period in Ukraine's history, which, on the one hand, created the pre-conditions for Ukraine's independence, while, on the other,drainednationalismof itsvitality. Overall, the book contains an unmatched amount of factual information, which fully demonstrates the author's impressive knowledge of recent developments in Ukraine. But while the book offersmany intricatedetails in itsaccount of the sixyearsprecedingthe referendumon independence, it does not depart from the interpretationsprovided by an existing survey of the period by Taras Kuzio and Andrew Wilson Ukraine. Perestroika toIndependence (Macmillan, 1994 and I999). The all-encompassingscope of the book makes it appear attractive to a wide audience. However, the exhaustive, 340-page description of perestroika in Ukraine will appeal to an astute student of Ukrainianpoliticsratherthan a readerlookingfor a 'concise modern political history'of Ukraine. Centrefor Russian andEastEuropean Studies K. WOLCZUK University ofBirmingham Taagepera, Rein. TheFinno-Ugric Republics and theRussianState.Hurst and Company, London, I999. xiii ? 449pp. Figures. Tables. Appendix. Bibliography.Index. [39.50. WITH the United Nations declaring the years 1995-2004 the 'Decade of Indigenous Peoples', the threshold of the new millennium is an historically appropriate juncture to consider the past, present and future of the 'threatened'peoples of the planet. While some twenty-five million Russians resident outside the Russian Federationhave been generally recognized as a geopoliticallydestabilizing'unexpected diaspora'of unprecedentedscale, the presence of some twenty-five million non-Russians within the Russian Federation has with the sensational exception of the Chechens been accorded little but statutoryacknowledgement.A principalobjective of Rein i86 SEER, 79, I, 2001 Taagepera's near-comprehensive new handbook is to publicize the FinnoUgric diasporawhich constitutesrathermore than three million of the latter non-Russianpopulation. Claiming to be the firstpost-Soviet generalworkon the Finno-Ugric peoples within the Russian Federation,the book is intended as a double-update, both exposing the grim realities of the pre-iggi Soviet ordeal and chronicling the ambivalent developments of the early and mid I99Os. Although a dedicated early chapter considers the 'Western FinnoUgric Nations' of Hungary, Finland and Estonia, all the remaining chapters are concerned with the various geopolitically-defined 'Eastern Finno-Ugric Nations' constitutionallyrecognized by the Russian Federation.Each of these chapterstargetsan individualnationalrepublic,emphasizingtheirdifferences by the addition of intriguing sub-titles. For example, chapter six is entitled 'Mariel: Europe'sLastAnimists'and chapterseven 'Udmurtia:The Redheacl Children of the Sun'. Each chapter follows a common topical format, considering(intypicalorder)history,languageandculture,religion,literature, geography and economy, demography, education, current issues and future perspectives. By thereby facilitating cross-referencingcomparison between the individual nations and republics, and also supplying abundant textual maps and statistical tables together with an exhaustive bibliography and index, Taagepera provides an invaluable mini-encyclopedia of the FinnoUgric diasporain Russiaforthe new millennium. What prospectsthat new millenniummay hold for the easternFinno-Ugric family is the paramount issue which is implicit throughout the descriptive chaptersand explicitin the firstchapteron 'The Finno-UgricRepublicsin the World Context' and the final chapter on 'Finno-Ugric Republics and the Future of Russian Democracy'. Taagepera is surely right to draw parallels with other 'threatenedpeoples' in the widerworld...