Central Europe has long been a contested space, where empires clashed and world wars began. But these disputed lands, stretching from present-day Germany and Switzerland to Poland and Ukraine, have always been more than just a battleground between West and East. Even as Central Europe's kingdoms warred with foreign invaders and one another, the region developed its own cohesive politics, society, and culture-a distinctive identity crucial to understanding the trials that confront Europe today. In The Middle Kingdoms, historian Martyn Rady offers the definitive history of Central Europe in all its precariousness, turbulence, and creativity. In the Middle Ages, the region was distinguished by its assemblies of noblemen, its self-governing cities, and its strong village communities. In the centuries that followed, Central Europeans launched the Reformation and Romanticism, championed the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and gave the world the symphony, expressionist cinema, and absurdist literature. Drawing on a lifetime of research and scholarship, The Middle Kingdoms tells as never before the captivating story of two thousand years of Central Europe's history and its enduring significance.