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Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City
This unique book examines the history, culture, and inner workings of the seven smallest independent countries in Europe. These are among the oldest states on the continent and, despite their diversity, they have much in common. Most have relatively high per capita incomes and life expectancies, and relatively low unemployment. This narrative presents the unique issues that confront small countries, including maintaining their independence, economic viability, preserving their native languages, and sustaining their governments. The second part of the book describes each microstate in turn, showing how each one has met these challenges and adapted over time. These concise and engaging chapters contain cultural information on subjects including the arts, gastronomy, and popular tourist sites.
362 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 8, 2025
I read this in an attempt to get excited for reading books about the individual microstates—I have only 10 countries remaining in my world books challenge and 5 of them are European microstates, which reflects the overall difficulty of finding books set in these countries combined with my lack of enthusiasm for them. Happily, this book gave me enough information about each microstate’s history and present state that a part of me is tempted to just count it for all of them (after all, most of these places have the population of a small town!). They are at least on my mental map now, and there’s also a topical overview section, covering issues like microstate monarchies (often more entrenched and powerful than in the rest of Europe, although San Marino on the other hand is the world’s oldest continuously existing republic), governance of microstates (most rely heavily on a neighbor for administrative services), and linguistic issues.
So there’s a lot of interesting factoids in this book, counterbalanced by the fact that it’s written with all the literary flair of a student report—it’s often clunky, repetitive, shallow in its analysis, unwilling to commit to its assertions (the phrase “may be” is used often), and emphasizes weird points (twice suggesting one visit the microstates to easily increase one’s number of countries visited—presumably those who haven’t already thought of this don’t care). Further adding to my suspicion that this began as an undergraduate thesis, it’s hard to tell who the intended audience is: it’s much less engaging and personalized than your typical armchair-travel book, and it does sometimes devolve into tourist tips, but it’s not nearly practical or comprehensive enough to replace something like Lonely Planet for in-person travelers, often ending by simply advising readers to visit the local tourist office for details. It also pads out its page count by reproducing charts from the CIA World Factbook, full of quickly-dated information that will be of interest to few readers (GDP, exchange rates, telephone codes…) and lots of black-and-white photos (many of which—such as plates of food and sweeping vistas—show up poorly in black-in-white).
Overall then, this is hard to recommend, except perhaps as a supplement to your travel guide for those planning a trip—it would make good train or plane reading. That said, I now know why Andorra has co-princes (the Bishop of Urgell in Spain, and the President of France), why invented microstates for Princess Diaries-type stories should definitely be based on Monaco (if the princely line ever fails, by treaty this tiny country reverts to a French possession), and why Vatican City truly should not be considered a country (even for the tiny proportion of residents allowed to have families—those being the officers of the Swiss Guard—the children are required by law to move out in young adulthood, thus preventing there from ever being a native population).
At any rate, here’s my list of microstate books so far, perhaps to be updated as I read more of them:
Malta: The Kappillan of Malta—actually quite decent historical fiction, though a bit dated.
Vatican City: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling—I don’t love art history enough to love this, and it’s a bit of a cheat for the challenge, but then Vatican City is a cheat of a country, so.
Luxembourg: Milly's Story—a mediocre World War II memoir.
Andorra: The Land of Right Up and Down—an OK older children’s book.
Liechtenstein: Ludmila—a very dated children’s book.
Monaco: The Grimaldis of Monaco—400 years of royal gossip, published in 1992.
San Marino: The Republic of San Marino—a dated magazine put out by San Marino’s tourist board.
So there’s a lot of interesting factoids in this book, counterbalanced by the fact that it’s written with all the literary flair of a student report—it’s often clunky, repetitive, shallow in its analysis, unwilling to commit to its assertions (the phrase “may be” is used often), and emphasizes weird points (twice suggesting one visit the microstates to easily increase one’s number of countries visited—presumably those who haven’t already thought of this don’t care). Further adding to my suspicion that this began as an undergraduate thesis, it’s hard to tell who the intended audience is: it’s much less engaging and personalized than your typical armchair-travel book, and it does sometimes devolve into tourist tips, but it’s not nearly practical or comprehensive enough to replace something like Lonely Planet for in-person travelers, often ending by simply advising readers to visit the local tourist office for details. It also pads out its page count by reproducing charts from the CIA World Factbook, full of quickly-dated information that will be of interest to few readers (GDP, exchange rates, telephone codes…) and lots of black-and-white photos (many of which—such as plates of food and sweeping vistas—show up poorly in black-in-white).
Overall then, this is hard to recommend, except perhaps as a supplement to your travel guide for those planning a trip—it would make good train or plane reading. That said, I now know why Andorra has co-princes (the Bishop of Urgell in Spain, and the President of France), why invented microstates for Princess Diaries-type stories should definitely be based on Monaco (if the princely line ever fails, by treaty this tiny country reverts to a French possession), and why Vatican City truly should not be considered a country (even for the tiny proportion of residents allowed to have families—those being the officers of the Swiss Guard—the children are required by law to move out in young adulthood, thus preventing there from ever being a native population).
At any rate, here’s my list of microstate books so far, perhaps to be updated as I read more of them:
Malta: The Kappillan of Malta—actually quite decent historical fiction, though a bit dated.
Vatican City: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling—I don’t love art history enough to love this, and it’s a bit of a cheat for the challenge, but then Vatican City is a cheat of a country, so.
Luxembourg: Milly's Story—a mediocre World War II memoir.
Andorra: The Land of Right Up and Down—an OK older children’s book.
Liechtenstein: Ludmila—a very dated children’s book.
Monaco: The Grimaldis of Monaco—400 years of royal gossip, published in 1992.
San Marino: The Republic of San Marino—a dated magazine put out by San Marino’s tourist board.
July 13, 2016
This is a good book to take with you if you are visiting any of the seven microstates of Europe. It compares the history, geography, residents, politics, etc., of these small countries in part I. In part two, the author gives a more in-depth treatment of each of the microstates, including a timeline, holiday list, foods etc.
As a general reader (I was looking for a book on San Marino), I enjoyed this much more than if it had been a typical travelogue, because it includes a bit of history as well.
As a general reader (I was looking for a book on San Marino), I enjoyed this much more than if it had been a typical travelogue, because it includes a bit of history as well.
February 26, 2023
Information overload but I learned a lot.
October 13, 2024
Perfect Travel Guide to the Microstates
The title of this thorough book is self-descriptive, and it provides all the geographic details that a traveler would be interested in knowing about each of these places. The author takes a unique approach by synthesizing info that multiple 'city-states' share in common in the first half of the book. I tend to call them city-states because that's the term in games like the Civilization series for small countries. And, the book does reveal much about the character of such small countries in this first section of the book. But the next half of the book takes a more analytic approach, with a more detailed look at each individual country one by one.
The section on each country gives a historical narrative with a good organizational heading style to help you follow the details. Then that is followed with a description of things to do, foods to try, and factual data on the individual microstate. So, there is much to be found in this guidebook. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in any one of these countries, or planning a tour of all of the microstates.
I read this in the Kindle format for my Journey Around the World in 80 Books Challenge for Luxembourg. My next stop will be Germany.
The title of this thorough book is self-descriptive, and it provides all the geographic details that a traveler would be interested in knowing about each of these places. The author takes a unique approach by synthesizing info that multiple 'city-states' share in common in the first half of the book. I tend to call them city-states because that's the term in games like the Civilization series for small countries. And, the book does reveal much about the character of such small countries in this first section of the book. But the next half of the book takes a more analytic approach, with a more detailed look at each individual country one by one.
The section on each country gives a historical narrative with a good organizational heading style to help you follow the details. Then that is followed with a description of things to do, foods to try, and factual data on the individual microstate. So, there is much to be found in this guidebook. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in any one of these countries, or planning a tour of all of the microstates.
I read this in the Kindle format for my Journey Around the World in 80 Books Challenge for Luxembourg. My next stop will be Germany.
Want to Read
February 10, 2008While not written in Esperanto or in any way about Esperanto, I have tagged this book "Esperanto" because its author is an Esperanto-speaker and I was introduced to this book through his numerous presentations on the subject at Esperanto events (where the countries are known as "nanolandoj"). Anyway, I know the author and I have a signed copy of the book that I hope to get around to reading some day.
November 14, 2012
This book is a solid overview of the microstates of western Europe, of the elements that unite them and separate them at once.
Eccardt argues that despite the widely differing particulars of the history of the seven microstates of Europe he chose for his study--Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican City, and, giant of the category, Luxembourg--they share certain characteristics in common. They have recently evolved into fully sovereign states as determined by the international state system, for instance, moving out just far enough from under the shadow of a patron, but their development of such and even their survival is almost entirely as a fluke, a consequence of great power rivalries allowing very small polities a chance, and frequently not complete (few have their own militaries). Their economies, Eccardt points out, are driven by their ability to exploit their sovereignty, frequently offering financial services including both above-the-board banking and tax sheltering. They've frequently had traditional, pre-democratic systems of government survive long into the modern age, with Liechstenstein's prince having so much power to cause some to question the country's status as a democracy and the Vatican City--of course--being run by the Roman Catholic Church. Each microstate has tried to preserve its cultural heritage to varying degrees, most arguably being at least more successful than comparable nearby regions, but the economic development driven by their exploitation of their sovereignty certainly plugs them into the international system (Luxembourg and Malta are European Union member-states in their own right, and the others are closely associated with the EU) and incidentally attracts relatively very large numbers of immigrants.
The utility of Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe lies in its detailed exploration of the similarities shared by the oldest microstates in the world, answering the question "What is a microstate?" quite well. The parallels brought forward by Eccardt can easily be used to study other, non-western European microstates, highlighting their similarities and perhaps making predictions about their future development. In a world marked by the changing nature of sovereignty generally, illustrated by the continued development of new microstates may continue to develop (the Faroes, perhaps?) and compromises over sovereignty that other microstates must make (post-crash Iceland's European Union bid is an example), makes the study of the microstate more universally relevant that one might think. If you've ever been interested in very small countries--hey, even if the only thing you know about the microstate is the Grand Fenwick was a great background for funny stories--you wouldn't do at all badly to read Eccardt's tome. "Everything counts/in small amounts."
Eccardt argues that despite the widely differing particulars of the history of the seven microstates of Europe he chose for his study--Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican City, and, giant of the category, Luxembourg--they share certain characteristics in common. They have recently evolved into fully sovereign states as determined by the international state system, for instance, moving out just far enough from under the shadow of a patron, but their development of such and even their survival is almost entirely as a fluke, a consequence of great power rivalries allowing very small polities a chance, and frequently not complete (few have their own militaries). Their economies, Eccardt points out, are driven by their ability to exploit their sovereignty, frequently offering financial services including both above-the-board banking and tax sheltering. They've frequently had traditional, pre-democratic systems of government survive long into the modern age, with Liechstenstein's prince having so much power to cause some to question the country's status as a democracy and the Vatican City--of course--being run by the Roman Catholic Church. Each microstate has tried to preserve its cultural heritage to varying degrees, most arguably being at least more successful than comparable nearby regions, but the economic development driven by their exploitation of their sovereignty certainly plugs them into the international system (Luxembourg and Malta are European Union member-states in their own right, and the others are closely associated with the EU) and incidentally attracts relatively very large numbers of immigrants.
The utility of Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe lies in its detailed exploration of the similarities shared by the oldest microstates in the world, answering the question "What is a microstate?" quite well. The parallels brought forward by Eccardt can easily be used to study other, non-western European microstates, highlighting their similarities and perhaps making predictions about their future development. In a world marked by the changing nature of sovereignty generally, illustrated by the continued development of new microstates may continue to develop (the Faroes, perhaps?) and compromises over sovereignty that other microstates must make (post-crash Iceland's European Union bid is an example), makes the study of the microstate more universally relevant that one might think. If you've ever been interested in very small countries--hey, even if the only thing you know about the microstate is the Grand Fenwick was a great background for funny stories--you wouldn't do at all badly to read Eccardt's tome. "Everything counts/in small amounts."
May 29, 2025
I was not particularly enthralled by this book. I thought it was a bit superficial. Maybe I was expecting too much.
March 26, 2017
Not for everyone, obviously. I picked this up thinking it was a tour guide. Although there is some touring information, this book contains history lessons, tricks of government formation and recognition, and economics.
I got a lot out of this. I've been to 3 of the micro states - Vatican, Monaco, and San Marino. Only 4 to go! Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malta, and Andorra.
I got a lot out of this. I've been to 3 of the micro states - Vatican, Monaco, and San Marino. Only 4 to go! Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malta, and Andorra.
Read
April 4, 2008This is where my family ancestry is from. I am sure I am a princess and that I was kidnapped out of the country as a baby.
put-aside
October 14, 2022This book provides info about the seven smallest countries in Europe. I wanted to learn more about these countries because of my renewed interest in stamp collecting: I seem to have a lot of stamps from each of these nations. Eccardt's book is informative and I learned some interesting stuff about these places. I put it down about halfway through, feeling it was getting to be a bit repetitive and dry. I may resume reading it at some point!
September 12, 2018
A little outdated (“discotheque”) but full of titillating nuggets of trivia. It was fascinating to read about these seven microstates side by side, and the best part was probably the short histories Eccardt devoted to each. Learned a lot, and would definitely require more research into micropatrology and their applicability as models for the cities and polities of tomorrow.
November 12, 2018
Great research book!
January 28, 2024
Interesting little book, lots of history. Discussed criteria for being a country. Certainly made me want to visit these little gems.
Read this as part of my “around the world” challenge.
Read this as part of my “around the world” challenge.
August 28, 2017
I was hoping for more historical gossip, I guess? This was an interesting combination of history and travel guide (but travel guide from the late 90s, so his advice for almost every trip is "check in with the tourism board when you arrive at the city to check on tours and opening times" rather than "google that shit"). The first half of the book is divided thematically, using ideas like government, exports, preserving heritage, and economics to compare and contrast these seven countries. The second half delves more deeply into each country. While they do have much in common, these are also seven very disparate states. Some have similar governments, geography, or history (like Liechtenstein and Luxembourg), while some are vastly different (like Vatican City and Monaco). This would be a fun book for someone trying to plan a trip to one or more of these countries; if you're looking for an engaging history of tiny cultures, maybe look to wikipedia.
February 6, 2016
What a gem. For someone who has always been fascinated by the history of the micro-states, I was intrigued by the title, but rather put off by the cover and my first impressions of this book.
They say you should never judge a book by its cover! And I devoured this great read which offers plenty of information on the micro-states, from how they were formed to what place they hold in the modern world.
The first chapter focuses on interesting points which all these nations have in common and traces a general history of the micro-states within Europe.
Individual chapters dedicated to each country follow, where much can be learnt about the micro-nations' history, geography, major industries and folklore/culture.
A great book for those interested in micro-nations as well as those who want to learn more about those ancient, fascinating and such unique places.
They say you should never judge a book by its cover! And I devoured this great read which offers plenty of information on the micro-states, from how they were formed to what place they hold in the modern world.
The first chapter focuses on interesting points which all these nations have in common and traces a general history of the micro-states within Europe.
Individual chapters dedicated to each country follow, where much can be learnt about the micro-nations' history, geography, major industries and folklore/culture.
A great book for those interested in micro-nations as well as those who want to learn more about those ancient, fascinating and such unique places.
April 26, 2010
Pretty good description of the European "micro-states" from giant Luxembourg, (1000 square miles) to the Vatican, (193 acres in the center of Rome). Fascinating how the countries got started and how they survived hundreds of years of shifting borders and intrigue. The short explanation is that they usually didn't--they have been owned by bigger countries at various times through history--but have always made a deal with the right pope, king or stronger country. Got a lot of real tidbits in there like Andorra has two "co-princes" that are appointed by the king of Spain and the president of France, Monaco has been ruled by the Grimaldi family almost continuously since 1278, and Liechenstein's last soldier died in 1939. Wonderful and trivial.
January 30, 2014
"Just the facts" book about the European Microstates.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews