Journey along Europe’s shifting borderlines walks the line between politics and people

Lewis Baston brings humour and warmth to his exploration of the historically contested lands of the continent, even when covering the most volatile areas

A turn towards authoritarian nationalism: Hungarian border police patrol the border with Serbia. Photo: Attila Kisbenedek/Getty Images

Ksenia Samotiy

Imagine changing the country you live in without changing your house. It’s not that hard for me to do, given that my city of birth, Lviv, was part of Austria-Hungary, Poland, the Soviet Union and independent Ukraine within less than 80 years. Some places are just like that, caught in the shifting sands of wars, empires and national liberation. They are at the heart of Lewis Baston’s new book, an exploration of 29 European borders.

Borderlines is based on five years of hands-on — or perhaps feet-on — research, as Baston travelled the continent, exploring territories that have changed hands many times, and getting to know the weird mix of cultures and peoples that resulted from this churn.