Lithuania (Cultures of the World)
Gr 7-10--All three titles present information on geography, history, government, lifestyle, festivals, and other social and cultural topics. The rigidity of the series format seems to limit the authors of Armenia and Ukraine, which tend to read like reference books. However, Kagda manages to tell an interesting story in Lithuania, by writing gracefully and eschewing the use of too much detail, a fault that often makes the other two volumes too dry. In fact, parts of Armenia may overwhelm some readers who are not already familiar with the country's history and religion. Ukraine has many serious misstatements, instances of incorrect punctuation, and odd choices of vocabulary. There is even a chart purporting to show the Ukrainian alphabet, but has nonsensical symbols instead. All three volumes have very good color photographs but limited glossaries of only one page. The books on Armenia and Ukraine in the "Then and Now" series (both 1993, Lerner) are much more cohesive and readable than the volumes considered here. While Lithuania is excellent (except for two mistakes about the language) and offers more historical depth, readers wishing a more personalized account of the country's situation in the early 1990s may wish to consult Stephen Chicoine and Brent Ashabranner's Lithuania (Cobblehill, 1995).Elizabeth Talbot, University of Illinois, ChampaignCopyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.