Places like the USSR, Yugoslavia, etc have ethnic issues that have been around a long time.
Kurt Schlicter wrote this book (series). As he says in the forward: it is supposed to be a warning and a cautionary tale, not a prediction.
You ain't kidding.
The aftermath of WWI and it's subsequent re-modeling of the Eurasian / Middle Eastern landscape screwed things up ROYALLY. It has also royally screwed things up in Africa, too, but we rarely hear about the goings on there.
When you think about it, Woodrow Wilson had a big hand in a LOT of the issues we've faced for years.
I'm not sure how much blame the divvying-up of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and/or Africa that Wilson had his hand in. I admit complete ignorance of that. But WWI most definitely set the stage for the Great Depression and WWII... Which set the stage for FDR and the New Deal which ushered in unprecedented Socialism into the USA - which has snowballed almost exponentially since then.
The sequel, Indian Country, is set in southern Indiana and follows the insurgency against the socialists. It's really, really good, and I'd say you could even read it first since it's a prequel to People's Republic.
Indeed. He seemed to understand Southern Indiana pretty well, too. I'm currently on Book 4. I shifted gears to read a book that I'm sure you're familiar with, though: the first book in the Dresden Files series.
Oh, man, this is a great time to hop on board. You've got like 16 books in the pipeline to keep you going.