Cleansing the Czechoslovak borderlands : migration, environment, and health in the former Sudetenland /

At one level, Glassheim (history, Univ. of British Columbia) examines the history of Germans and Czechs in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, treating the era prior to 1945, then the process by which Germans were expelled from these territories. Next, he empathetically depicts expellee life in postwar Germany, including issues of health, belonging, and the politicization of lost homeland ambitions, before turning to the way Czechs resettled the Sudetenland, seeking to establish their own regional identity and develop heavy industry. This came at the detriment of the environment and the decay of the prewar infrastructure. Subsequently, Glassheim focuses on the city of Most, which had to be resited due to extensive coal mining, and he analyzes the "intertwined Czech and German narratives of failure and decay in the borderlands." The second level of the book examines issues of how identity is formed, especially in the contexts of resettlement, modernization, and memory. Glassheim's personal and powerful treatment argues that understanding past loss can help build positive human communities in the present and future. His contribution thus extends to all who seek community and belonging. Numerous illustrations enhance the volume. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. --Paul W. Knoll, University of Southern California