In this fascinating book about the main islands in the Baltic and the Mediterranean, Deborah Paci shows that isola has little to do with isolation despite their shared origin. Rather than being isolated, Sardinia, Corsica, Gotland, Saaremaa, and the other book islands are closely connected in their larger spatial and historical context.

Bo Stråth, University of Helsinki, Finland

A superb exercise in comparative imagination and the comparative study of imaginaries, Paci's book enriches island studies with a cultural-political perspective that rejects the lure of geographical determinism in all of its facets. Between the Seas demonstrates that a correct orientation towards islandness is the best antidote towards insularism in both politics and scholarship.

Claudio Fogu, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Islands are a compelling topic of social and historical studies: on the one hand, they have clear geographical borders, which seem to determine distinct identities and political autonomy. On the other hand, many islands have been hubs in trans-maritime economic, political, and cultural connections or are of geopolitical relevance, and are hence not at all isolated from outside world. Comparisons between the Baltic and Mediterranean Sea regions have played an important role in historiography long before Fernand Braudel's seminal work, often reflecting on tensions between processes of unification and fragmentations in both regions. While the focus on the Mediterranean has been widely dominating until the 20th century, this constellation has changed in political terms since the 1990s, when Baltic regional cooperation and integration has been promoted by regional actors as well as from the European Union as a model also for the Mediterranean. Deborah Paci's book undertakes what has been often demanded, but rarely delivered: It combines both maritime regions and delves into the fascinating history of various islands, selected as case studies. She analyses historical and political imaginaries of island identities with a broader perspective on their role in both regions as focal areas of the European Union as well as on their role in recent geopolitical developments.

Jörg Hackmann, University of Szczecin, University of Greifswald