Check this out, too
Timothy Garton Ash - Books in English (UK)
Just a reminder -
Czechoslovakia does not exist anymore since 1993. It split into two independent countries;
Czech Republic and
Slovakia.
Niether does
Yugoslavia; after the war in the Balkans, independent countries of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia were created. The newest country in the region is
Kosovo, but its status as an independent country is in dispute.
A part of Poland, and Czech Republic and Slovakia are
not in Eastern Europe but rather in
Central Europe. Historically, the
Czech Kingdom had always belonged - both politically and geographically - to Western Europe. Czech capital -
Prague - was even the capital of the
Holy Roman Empire between the 14th and 17th Century...
Hope this helps a bit.