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Maybe a bit general but Andreja Plakana "The Latvians: A short history" (https://www.amazon.com/Latvians-History-Hoover-Institution-Publication/dp/0817993029) is a pretty good introductory text for English speakers and that covers both the pre-history of the region as well as the independence periods.

There's a very good book called "A grammar of modern Latvian" by Trevor G. Fennell and Henry Gelsen. A physical copy of the book runs for 600$. I found a pdf of it a while ago but I can't find it anymore. I still have the pdf, PM me if you are interested:)

Edit: I just found it again here, all three volumes.

Also this is a great site for tables of suffixes and all that.

I can really recommend Complete Latvian from the Teach Yourself series by Terēze Svilane Bartholomew. You can get it as an e-book for only a few euros in several places - definitely worth it! It also comes with audio via an app.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Latvian-Yourself-Tereza-Svilane/dp/1444106880

Also check out the website https://latvian.rocks/

Check out /r/learnlatvian for some possible starting points.

I'd recommend the Teach Yourself Latvian book as a good introduction.

I was (still am) in a similar position to you, after a lot of reading about learning languages in general (including polyglot and polyglot ama threads on Reddit) I read and concluded that the "Teach Yourself X" series were the most effective (Rosetta is overrated and another popular one I forget the name of).

You might have to Google a bit, I just did a quick one and couldn't immediately see any for under £100 Amazon UK link.

Last point, I'd suggest that you simply use it as much as you can, (a common theme from the polyglots), so secrecy is probably not an option.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444106880/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KDDIzbGR8B7MS

This is what I've been using. It comes with a CD that I can listen to while I drive.

As someone who only speaks English and Spanish (the latter, poorly), learning Latvian has been similar to learning gibberish. Honestly, I've learned more from listening to my wife/in-laws (Latvian citizens) than any reading material, but this book has helped a bit.

I found [this post] (http://www.lu.lv/forums/nc/?tx_mmforum_pi1[action]=list_post&tx_mmforum_pi1[tid]=25551&tx_mmforum_pi1[fid]=14) -it's in Latvian itself, but you can use Google translate. And searching USA Amazon for latvian books I got [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Latvian-Two-Audio-CDs/dp/0071766286/) and [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Colloquial-Latvian-Complete-Course-Beginners/dp/0415454808) so I wouldn`t say there are no resources

Ir sanācis sūtīt šo to no ASV, kas tiešām unikāls un eiropā nav atrodams.

No Amazon nekad nav bijis vērts. Dabūsi maksāt daudz par shipping un ilgi gadīt (dažreiz ļoti ilgi). Būs tāpat jāmaksā PVN un muita, kas var sanākt baigais čakars, jāsūta visi pirkuma dokumenti, sanācis ka jāmeklē materiālu sastāvs, dažreiz uz lidostu jābrauc. Ar kurjeriem ir nedaudz vieglāk. Nemaz negribu domāt par preču atgriežšanu un citām problēmām.

Piemēram šis ram kas Amazon US maksā 121€, ar shipping būs 160€, bet pēc muitas/PVN beigās 197€.

You can find information about Fascism by reading books about the history and development of Western philosophy. Fascism is the ideological successor to the Holy Roman Empire and in more modern times it was a reaction to the Enlightenment and to the French Revolution. Any books that deal with those topics will discuss Fascism in the context of the era.

I agree the world will survive if you learn about Fascism but that’s not why you are down voted. Most people feel that Fascism is an ideology that had catastrophic consequences for the countries who adopted it, most notably Hitler's Germany. Those consequences were not only bad for Germany and its citizens but also for a lot of other people which is why it is taboo.

I might take the opportunity to mention that Fascism was based on several pseudo-scientific ideas which were later debunked by advances in genetics that mostly took place after the decline of Facism. If you want to get into the details, this book goes into very deep detail explaining why ethno-nationalism is complete nonsense from the perspective of the genetics. It also has a lot of history about Fascist Germany.

First of all, I think it's awesome that you are more interested in Latvian history than a fair amount of actual Latvians. :)

Everything you stated is pretty accurate, but I will clarify one thing:

>14% of the entire Latvian population *volunteered* to fight for the Waffen SS or Nazi Wehrmacht (army) as soon as Latvia was "liberated" by the German forces attacking the Soviet Union.

Yes, a fair amount of people volunteered to fight for the Germans in 1941. Because communists had occupied the land and had realized repressions, including mass deportations on those who opposed the regime. Nazis even made propaganda to encourage revenge on communists. Some hoped that the Latvian SS legion would be the core of the army that would free Latvia (the legion, of course, was controlled by Germans; their only interest was German victory). In a way, the volunteers were not fighting for Germans as much as they were fighting for freedom and against communists. That all being said, the legion was called "Latvian SS voluntary legion" mostly to comply to the Hague Convention, the nazis tried to make an impression that it was voluntary; most of the people that joined were actually mobilized (only 15% - 20% of the legion were true volunteers).

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>How terrible were the Soviets really? How terrible were the Russians really? How terrible *are* the Russians, really?

I am probably too young to answer that question. Probably not as terrible to us as they were to Ukrainians. This documentary (graphic imagery) is about the soviet regime until 1941, about their crimes to Ukraine (~first 10mins). Not all Russians were bad, nearly all of them were also hurt by the regime. That also probably holds true today. Some of them probably were and are simply ignorant (as it was and is with most of us).

If you want to know more about WWII in LV: http://okupacijasmuzejs.lv/en/history/1-soviet-occupation/

A story about a mother who was sent out to Siberia: Suddenly, a Criminal: Sixteen Years in Siberia (there is also a film based on the story, called "the Chronicles of Melanie")