Long before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, conflict was simmering on Europe's borders. In overlooked territories in eastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus –from the Balkans and Cyprus to Abkhazia on the fringes of Georgia – local disputes spiral into regional crises, global alliances are forged and broken, and power is brokered while the West looks elsewhere.

In this episode, acclaimed correspondent Hannah Lucinda Smith joins Adam McCauley to discuss her new book Hinterlands: Journeys through Europe’s Unfinished Frontiers. She draws on vivid first-hand experience to paint a gripping portrait of Europe at its edges - and the struggles that will define its future.

Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist known for reporting across the Middle East and Europe for The Times of London, The Atlantic, WIRED, and others. She is the author of Erdogan Rising, an account of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rise to power, and Zarifa, the memoir of Afghan human rights activist Zarifa Ghafari.

Adam McCauley is a journalist, academic, and policy analyst currently based in Ottawa, Canada.