Writing for a general audience, O'Connor (history, Southern Illinois U.) presents a narrative history of the countries that are now Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The meat of the narrative begins in 1721 as the Baltic provinces were under the rule of the Russian Czar and ends in the late 1990s. It is a traditional history in that political developments are the focus, but there is some attention paid to socioeconomic developments. Also included are a timeline of major events, a glossary, some biographical entries of important figures, and a bibliographic essay. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)