Decades ago, the historian Bernard Wasserstein set out to uncover the hidden past of the town 40 miles west of Lviv where his family originated: Krakowiec (Krah-KOV-yets). In this work he recounts its dramatic and traumatic history. 'I want to observe and understand how some of the great forces that determined the shape of our times affected ordinary people.' The result is an exceptional, often moving book. Wasserstein traces the arc of history across centuries of religious and political conflict, as armies of Cossacks, Turks, Swedes and Muscovites rampaged through the region.