The book is divided into three major parts. The first focuses on the history of the Vilnius region or more broadly, the Lithuanian part of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; the second, on Galicia and Volhynia (modern Eastern Poland and Western Ukraine), and the last, on post-1989 Poland, with focus on how modern Polish people have mostly come to accept the loss of its Eastern territories and succeeded at establishing workable relations with its neighbours. In that later part, Snyder credits the influence of Jerzy Giedroyc (Polish editor of the Paris-based periodical, Kultura) and Polish dissidents on shaping a reconciliation-friendly and anti-Russian imperialism policy in Central and Eastern Europe, following the end of the communist regimes in 1989 and succeeding years.
