In this monograph the author set out to put the Slovak national movement between 1820 and 1939 into its international context. He broke the book into two, with the first part focussing on the Slavonic and Central European context and the second with the wider European context.

The theme of the book is that in the century between 1820 and 1918, Slovak national leaders, in their struggle for the emancipation of their nation from Magyar rule, searched for and worked with a wide variety of Slavic and non-Slavic friends. Thus, they corresponded and visited with Croats, Serbs, Russians and Romanians, not just with the Czechs.

In the first seven chapters Krajčovič shows how early Slovak leaders like the poet Ján Kollár, the historian Pavol Jozef Šafárik and the linguist Ľudovít Štúr cooperated with leaders of the Ilyrian movement such as the linguist Ljudevit Gaj, and generals such as Baron Josip Jellačić. At the same time, Slovak bishops such as Štefan Moyses, Jozef Haulik and Alexander Alagovič, all of whom served for a time in Croatia, helped with the Croatian national movement. Similarly, the Croatian leader Josip Strossmayer, once he became a bishop, helped the Slovaks with their national movement. This kind of cooperation continued throughout the 19th century, and after the 1867 Compromise between the Habsburgs and the Magyars, it also included the Romanians, the Czechs and, eventually, American Slovaks.

Unfortunately, there is no conclusion, just a summary of the previous chapters, followed by a Postscript. The latter deals with continuing Slovak efforts at emancipation, this time from under Czech rule in the first Czechoslovak Republic.

This book makes for very difficult reading. It seems to be a compendium of articles and book chapters previously published by the author over a 40-year period, supplemented by more recent archival research. The manuscript would have benefited if the author had chosen the usual route of his colleagues, that is by having it evaluated by two “recenzenti”, as is customary in the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Instead, he appears to have published it on his own, without any advice from his colleagues. Furthermore, there is no bibliography or index, which also limits the usefulness of the book. While the resume on the back cover claims that this monograph will interest not only specialists, but also history buffs and the wider public, I’m afraid that it will be read only by a small circle of specialists.