«'Professor Aldcroft's latest book provides a fascinating account of how and why Europe's '"Third World" remained mired in relative backwardness between 1918 and 1939 with even its best performers staying in the shadow of the advanced economies of Western Europe.' Dr Steven Morewood, University of Birmingham, UK ’Aldcroft's book is a compact and very useful survey on what we know about the economic development of the European Periphery during the interwar years... The main virtue of the book is to synthesize in a highly readable way a vast literature on the puzzling persistence of economic backwardness outside the north-western European core... It is a good starting point for further research into one of the most promising areas in European economic history.’ EH.NET ’... the book provides an important, often overlooked case study within the economic growth literature. But the text also represents a key contribution to the economic history of the European periphery... The structure of the book, with the explicit focus on individual countries and country groups, makes it extremely accessible for readers of different backgrounds - economics, economic history, and history. It also allows for a versatile use of the text in a variety of courses, for example, an upper-level undergraduate course on the economic history of Europe, or a class on economic growth.’ Australian Economic History Review ’Aldcroft’s new book will make a perfect textbook for courses on European economic history, assigned alongside a text on the economic history of Western Europe.’ European History Quarterly»