A historian helps us re-envision Europe's eastern half, from the Baltics to the Balkans, with a lively account of how most of the region's countries have modernized since the Cold War, and of the challenges they face today. And an American-born artist and creative-writing teacher shares her joy of being "Welsh by choice," telling us of Welsh words that describe feelings we don't easily express in English.

• Jacob Mikanowski, author of "Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land" (Pantheon)
• Pamela Petro, author of "The Long Field: Wales and the Presence of Absence, a Memoir" (Arcade)

• Jacob Mikanowski is the author of "Goodbye, Eastern Europe."
• Jacob writes observations about the world on occasion for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
• Pamela Petro is a lecturer in creative non-fiction at Smith College in Massachusetts, and directs  the Dylan Thomas International Summer School at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
• Pam is the author of "The Long Field: Wales and the Presence of Absence, a Memoir." She writes in The Guardian about visiting her favorite megalith sites in Wales.