Founded by Empress Catherine II in 1794 on the northern shore of the Black Sea, Odessa grew rapidly into a polyglot, cosmopolitan port city in the 19th century, all amply documented in this erudite and wonderfully readable scholarly history. Drawing on Russian and Ukrainian sources, newspaper articles and travel brochures, Herlihy is especially adept at showing the tensions of World War I.  (UKR18, $29.95)