One day I realized that I knew nothing about Finland, so I picked this book up. This was quite a heavy book to read for me, even though it's called "concise". The author assumes I know more about Scandinavian history than I actually do. I did learn a lot, this book is full of great information. Even has a few maps that are helpful. However, there are so many different political parties in Finland that I found myself confused when the history got to the 20th century. I wish there had been an appendix that explained what each party believed - I don't know the difference between the Finnish Social Democratic Party, The Finnish People's Democratic Union, the Finnish Communist Party, The Agrarian Union, the Swedish People's Party, The National Progressive Party, and well, you get the picture.

The more I read this book, the more I realized I don't know. I read a few passages several times, realizing that I needed another history book to explain to me what was going on in THIS history book.

Good book, though. I can't fault the author for my own lack of knowledge of European history. ( )