For 300 years the greatest power in Eastern Europe was the union between the kingdom of Poland and the grand duchy of Lithuania, one of the longest-lasting political unions in European history. This volume is the first detailed study of the making of that union ever published in English. Such meticulous attention to the historiography of his subject is one of the great merits of Frost's work, in which he is nothing if not colorful and unflinching in his judgment of the often conflicting, confused, or biased interpretations of earlier historians ... By limiting hid attention in this first volume to just the years from Krevo to Lublin, Frost manages a far more focused, nuanced, and richly detailed treatment of political currents in this crucial formative period than Davies and earlier historians have been able to offer ... Professor Frost's work is poised to be the definitive treatment of Poland-Lithuania within the temporal and topical limitations that he has set for himself.