History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s

by Timothy Garton Ash

The 1990s. An extraordinary decade in Europe. At its beginning, the old order collapsed along with the Berlin Wall. Everything seemed possible. Everyone hailed a brave new Europe. But no one knew what this new Europe would look like. Now we know. Most of Western Europe has launched into the unprecedented gamble of monetary union, though Britain stands aside. Germany, peacefully united, with its capital in Berlin, is again the most powerful country in Europe. The Central Europeans—Poles, Czechs, Hungarians—have made successful transitions from communism to capitalism and have joined NATO. But farther east and south, in the territories of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, the continent has descended into a bloody swamp of poverty, corruption, criminality, war, and bestial atrocities such as we never thought would be seen again in Europe.
        Timothy Garton Ash chronicles this formative decade through a glittering collection of essays, sketches, and dispatches written as history was being made. He joins the East Germans for their decisive vote for unification and visits their former leader in prison. He accompanies the Poles on their roller-coaster ride from dictatorship to democracy. He uncovers the motives for monetary union in Paris and Bonn. He walks in mass demonstrations in Belgrade and travels through the killing fields of Kosovo. Occasionally, he even becomes an actor in a drama he debating Germany with Margaret Thatcher or the role of the intellectual with Václav Havel in Prague. Ranging from Vienna to Saint Petersburg, from Britain to Ruthenia, Garton Ash reflects on how "the single great conflict" of the cold war has been replaced by many smaller ones. And he asks what part the United States still has to play. Sometimes he takes an eagle's-eye view, considering the present attempt to unite Europe against the background of a thousand years of such efforts. But often he swoops to seize one telling human that of a wiry old farmer in Croatia, a newspaper editor in Warsaw, or a bitter, beautiful survivor from Sarajevo.
        His eye is sharp and ironic but always compassionate. History of the Present continues the work that Garton Ash began with his trilogy of books about Central Europe in the 1980s, combining the crafts of journalism and history. In his Introduction, he argues that we should not wait until the archives are opened before starting to write the history of our own times. Then he shows how it can be done.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Essays, European History, Journalism, British Literature

467 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Timothy Garton Ash CMG FRSA is a British historian, author and commentator. He is Professor of European Studies at Oxford University. Much of his work has been concerned with the late modern and contemporary history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Immediately below is what I wrote after purchasing this book in August 2023 - my attempts to get Goodreads to correct the Timothy Ashby error is so far unsuccessful - having read the book my review proper follows after my August post and is clearly identified).

Just to be clear this book is by Timothy Garton Ash not Timothy Ashby - I'll have to send another request to goodreads to get another really egregious error corrected.

Bought this book today in virtually new condition hardback for £1 (little more then $1) but I ain't complaining. Usually I steer clear of this sort of book, finding them even at time of publication to be almost immediately dated. But a brief skim impressed me with the intelligence and prescience of Mr Ash - who is a most intelligent 'foreign correspondent' in a very old fashioned sense of someone who has lived in and often speaks the language(s) and certainly knows the history and literature of the countries he reports on.

I am looking forward to dipping into this book and if all goes well reading it through).

My review, October 2023:

My initial favourable impression of this book was confirmed by reading it but my reservations about the limitations of any 'history of the present' (let us be honest that is a fancy way of describing what is in essence an 'instant' book) were amply justified - though again I must stress that Mr. Garton Ash is a very intelligent, thoughtful writer/journalist/historian with a huge experience of the events he writes about - he is not someone parachuted in to make ill informed pronouncements about people and events he neither knows nor understands - in some ways he is too close to these events and he sees the events of the 1990's as far more central than they in fact are. From a quarter century after the book was published it is painfully evident, not so much what he predicted wrongly, but what he couldn't possibly have known would be important. At one stage, in one line, he breezily dismisses the idea of Samuel P. Huntington in his eponymous 1996 book of a 'Clash of Civilisations' between Christian and Islamic countries and traditions. Garton Ash couldn't have foreseen 9/11, and while not endorsing Huntington's views or book (there is much in it that is deeply problematic), it had more to say about the way the 21st century would develop than Garton Ash (or the risible Fukumaya and his 'End of History').

You would not want to read this book to understand the breakup of Yugoslavia, or the post Soviet history of the former 'Communist Bloc' countries - too much was still uncertain - and I can't help feeling that for anyone born after 1999 the terrible events that engulfed Yugoslavia are as remote as the Balkan wars before WWI. Even the re-emergence of entities like the Sanjak of Novi Pizar and Montenegro gave a belle epoque flavour to much of these events which was only increased by so many of the diplomatic meetings taking place in decaying pre WWI hotels and resorts with names like 'Bristol' and 'Europa'.

But it is worthwhile reading this book to understand how the world looked at the start of the new millennium and because Garton Ash is not predicting history but trying to understand it in its moment. That he was wrong in many ways is not surprising; that much he said is still worth reading is what is surprising and I am looking forward to reading his recently published (March 2023) 'Homelands; A Personal History of Europe'.

I would like to comment on two thing, the first is the 'Pacto del Olvido' (Pact of Forgetting) which parties on the left and right agreed as part of Spain's transition from Franco's dictatorship to Democracy. This, and its attendant amnesty was referred to frequently while discussing the problem of how to deal with 'crimes' committed by the previous 'communist' regimes. By the time the book was published the process which would see Spain's repudiation of the Pacto del Olvido in 2004 was already underway. Whether it ever had relevance for the former communist countries as a way to deal with their pasts may still be debated but what is now clear is that while in played a part in Spain's transition from Francoism it was never more than a band-aid on a festering wound the lancing of which, through the recognition of the barbarities of the Civil War and post Civil War activities of the Franco regime, came just in time to allow both a opportune recognition of the crimes against and of suffering a huge, maybe a majority, of the peoples of Spain, but to bury Francoism and Franco forever in the obliquity he deserved*.

The second point is his glowing endorsement, almost a love letter, to Pope John Paul II. I am sure it must be hard for anyone not alive back in the 1980's to understand how pivotal, but also the commanding moral, position he exercised personally and as Pope. I find it hard to remember without blushing, the unquestioning favourable opinion I had of him back then. I do not question that he played an important part in facilitating the demise of the communist regime in Poland and, eventually, the Soviet Union and other communist bloc states but as establishing himself as an effective 'moral' arbiter on any other question he was failure. While he became a celebrity the organisation he was the head of sank further and further into a quagmire of deceit, dishonesty, deception and cover up. It is hard to remember that not so long ago if you needed a guardian/chaperone for a vulnerable person a catholic priest/nun/religious was an unquestioned choice. Nowadays I doubt anyone would leave an underage or vulnerable person in the hands of a catholic priest/nun/religious unless the priest/nun/religious was heavily chaperoned.** I can not see anyone, not even Mr. Garton Ash, writing again in such glowing terms about a deeply flawed man and a institution so morally compromised.

My third and final comment is purely to do with the UK and Europe; although it was not his intention at the time of writing to say anything to encourage the UK's disengagement (Brexit wasn't even a twinkle in anybody's eyes back then) with European thought, problems or culture, that lack of engagement comes across through the absence, of any real substantive actions, interventions or interest on the part of the UK in the events of the 1990's (unless you want to count the ridiculous jibe by Nicholas Ridley in 1990 about the then German government being Nazi's - who is Nicholas Ridley - you may well ask - a man of utterly no importance now). That absence of the UK from most of the 400 odd pages can now be read as prescience - the UK has withdrawn from the European Union and more importantly seems to be withdrawing from any real engagement with anyone or anything outside a incredibly narrow range of 'Little England' prejudices and knee jerk illiberal responses to the complexities of the modern world.

These are but three examples of the way the 'History of the Present' has so quickly changed our views on the past - it cannot be called a failure on the part Garton Ash, it is the inevitable result of writing history's 'first draft' but history is not set, it is changing along with what we think is history, all the time. This is not so much a good account of the history of the 1990's, although parts of it are, but more as a portrait of what looked important as we were entering the 21st century. It is important to remember that because it had an impact on how the future we now regard as important is seen.

*That he was removed from the vulgarly extravagant mausoleum he built with slave labour at El Valle de los Caídos is one of those moments that made me feel Wordsworth's "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!” Although I was far from young it made me feel young.
**Although some people might not accept this I must stress that I have rewritten these sentences again and again to remove the sarcasm, vulgarity and ribald jokes that kept springing from my pen.

[Robert Varik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suurepärane raamat. Eestist 1990. aastatel palju juttu ei ole, aga paneb tõsiselt mõtlema sellele, kui väga meil vedas, et asjad suhteliselt sujuvalt arenesid ja et ei tekkinud rahvuskonflikte. Analüüsides Jugoslaaviat jõudis nt Ash järeldusele, et kui riigi peamine rahvus ei moodusta rahvastikust 80%, siis on tõenäoline rahvuskonflikti puhkemine. Baltikum (eeskätt Eesti ja Läti) aga oli erand (ta toob Eesti ka välja). Miks Eestis tegelikult ikkagi suhted kohalike venelastega vägivallavabalt kulgesid, on vist veel uurimata teema.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A kaleidoscopic book about the most important decade of my lifetime: from the time the Soviet Empire crumbled in 1989 to the end of major air and ground fighting in the former Yugoslavia in 1999. I had read many of these pieces in the New York Review of Books when they were originally published. Seeing them together for the first time, with a helpful smattering of bridging "chronologies," gives me a breathtaking view of new countries being formed and old ones sinking under the waves. It is telling that the book begins with a map of Europe in 1989 and ends with the same map, but with substantially revised boundaries, in 1999. Marked on the latter are potential areas of future strife, such as the Basque homeland of Spain, Catalonia, and Ruthenia.

This is an important book, one that I can see myself referring back to again and again. Ash knew many of the major players first hand, from Lech Walensa and Vaclav Havel to Helmut Kohl and Erich Honecker.

[Larissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“More and more space is devoted to speculating about what may happen tomorrow rather than describing what happened yesterday - the original mission of journalism.”

[Lazarus P Badpenny Esq · Rating 5 out of 5]

As expected, persuasive and often prescient politico-historical analysis - particularly on issues such as the shortcomings of European monetary union.

[Steve Kettmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review published in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000:

Essays, Sketches and Dispatches From Europe in the 1990s By Timothy Garton Ash Random House; 405 pages; $29.95

Oxford historian Timothy Garton Ash, best known for his New York Review of Books essays, has probably had more serious, face-to-face conversations with the pivotal European leaders who reshaped the world in the 1980s and 1990s than anyone else who practices journalism.

Who else could supplement a collection of previously published essays with a time line of major European events throughout the decade and almost nonchalantly drop in one of the following, let alone both? ``8 NOVEMBER. Berlin. I chair a remarkable discussion between former chancellor Helmut Kohl and former presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush, on the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.'' And, two pages later:

``17 NOVEMBER. Prague. Another capital, another tenth anniversary: this time, that of the velvet revolution. Here I chair a discussion in Prague Castle with the Berlin Three -- Kohl, Gorbachev and Bush -- augmented by Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, Danielle Mitterrand (representing her deceased husband), and Margaret Thatcher.''

Garton Ash earned this position, and he earned it the old-fashioned way: He established himself as a respected, thoughtful authority even before the rise of Solidarity in Poland and all the remarkable changes that followed, and he did the footwork, too. People such as Havel and Gorbachev do not just know his face, and his voice, they know his arguments and his sensibilities. As Garton Ash tells us, Havel once gave a speech in Tokyo in which he repeatedly took issue with his ``English friend'' for his views on the need for intellectuals who become politicians to make a choice between one and the other. Havel rejects that distinction.

There can be no question that Garton Ash should top the reading list of anyone looking to understand the evolution of the Central European countries that were previously shackled to the Soviet Union. Anything he writes is well worth reading, from such classics of perspective and first- hand reportage as ``The Magic Lantern'' -- which recounts Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution -- to this new collection of his more recent work, which is only mildly disappointing.

Anyone gets a little smarter by reading Garton Ash. He's the observer we all wish we could be. Unlike most journalists, he's done all the reading and, more often than not, he speaks the language. Unlike most historians, he hungers to be where the action is, and writes with an immediacy and pungency that can be very effective, even memorable. When he writes in a 1998 piece on Germany that ``Boredom is an underrated factor in politics,'' many readers will not only nod their heads and smile at his wit, but also do their best to remember the line so they can cite it (or steal it).

There is so much authority in Garton Ash's work, it's almost unnerving. He's careful with facts, and maybe even more careful with ideas. He is, in short, someone whose approach and sensibility are completely at odds with all current trends in American journalism.

``If the storytellers give up, the bad people will certainly win,'' CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour said in a recent speech summing up the dismal state of foreign news reporting in the United States. ``I am not alone in feeling really depressed about the state of the news today. . . . A longtime, and highly awarded, colleague of mine has gotten out of the business altogether, saying news and journalism died in the nineties. Now, I do not share that much pessimism . . . but something has got to change.''

As it happens, Garton Ash takes a quick, zesty shot at Amanpour in his book, describing a somewhat pathetic scene near the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 9 for the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The turnout that night was small, as Garton Ash rightly notes, but the people were getting worked up by watching a large screen showing the CNN broadcast, often of themselves.

``And when, in the course of the interview, I tell Christiane Amanpour that I think the Germans have a lot to celebrate, she gestures at the people behind us and says words to the effect of `and so they are.' Thus does television create its own story.''

In any case, Amanpour was right to call attention to the need for smart, thorough coverage of important foreign developments, and no one embodies that tradition better than Garton Ash. For example, his piece on a longtime Warsaw friend who went from samizdat newspaper editor to soon-to- be-rich editor of Poland's most visible daily and his article on Pope John Paul II are classics of thought-provoking writing.

At times, though, he opts for writing that strives merely to be serviceable, as when people in three essays are described as having ``nut-brown'' faces. Late in the book, Garton Ash allows himself wide latitude to explore his hunches. The phrase ``as if'' recurs, generally not a good sign:

``We didn't make war to have this anarchy,'' a leader in Kosovo tells him. ``But all the time a curious, slightly sinister smile plays on his lips, as if he's really thinking, `What a huge joke that the United States and the whole Western world and this man from Oxford are all treating me . . . with such respect.' ''

The Garton Ash of a few years ago kept such gambits to a minimum. Then again, the subject of the former Yugoslavia may demand any and all such attempts at insight and understanding, so unfathomable are its mysteries. Maybe Garton Ash just needs time to get this new, freer style of writing under control. If so, it will give us all one more reason to wait eagerly for the next book.

Former Chronicle reporter Steve Kettmann lives in Berlin, where he writes for the New Republic, Salon and other publications.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

[Goran Jankuloski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dosta knjige je zastarelo, ali preskočiš detalje unutarpartijskih previranja u svakoj državi srednje Evrope i ostane dve stvari:

Oxfordski profesor koji drži čas iz britkosti argumentacije, real politika, a ponekad i krasnorečja.

Pogled sa strane na naše balkansko ludilo iz koga postane očigledno koliko su te naše drame bile providne i predvidljive.

[吕不理 · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a book recommended in our reading list, it’s both informative and intriguing for someone who is alien to these countries like me.
I skipped some part of the book because I was too not familiar with those regions to understand. Still it’s a great book to expand necessary general knowledge.

[Ayelen Arostegui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinada con estos ensayos y artículos sobre la Europa de los años 90, la década en la que se reconfiguró su mapa político: la reunificación alemana, el fin de la Guerra Fría, la creación de la unión monetaria, el rearmado de Centroeuropa, y la escabrosa guerra de los Balcanes. Un libro árido pero valiosísimo.

[Rachael Samberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent then-contemporary perspective and journalism.

[Miguel Ángel Moreno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es como leer reportajes periodísticos de la época, desde un punto de vista privilegiado. Muy ameno.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and well-observed journalism from Central/Eastern Europe in the 1990s, with a particular focus on Germany, Poland, and the Balkans. The pieces in this collection are roughly contemporaneous with the events they describe, so it's interesting to see how Ash's thinking evolved, and where he got things right and got things wrong. (I found it interesting, for example, that Ash predicted that the eventual fall of Milosevic in Serbia and the achievement of independence for Kosovo would be more traumatic and violent than they eventually ended up being. I would love to see an essay where Ash tries to figure out why things actually went more smoothly than he'd anticipated. It's possible that Ash has written such an essay - he still writes frequently on Central/Eastern Europe for the New York Review of Books, among other places.)

I sometimes felt a little out of my depth in reading this book. My knowledge of Eastern European history in the decade of 1989-1999 was formed from a somewhat confused jumble of CNN footage, photos from Paris Match, and the odd New York Times article. My knowledge of Eastern European under communism derives almost solely from reading of Tony Judt's Post-War. Ash is the sort of writer who might casually toss in a reference to "Hungary 1956" or "General Jaruzelski" and expect you to know what he's talking about. He's a clear enough writer that you get the gist of what he's saying in any case, but I think I might enjoy reading and thinking about the essays in this book again after I've read more widely about Eastern Europe.

[Tereza · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of essays and analyses in Ashe's precise style. No word wasted, rational, analytical, and yet brimming with humanity, hope and humour. Author displays an admirable and in no way faulty understanding for realities of central and southeastern Europe, rarely seen in an Englisman.
Inspiring and lasting influence, all the more interesting these days, when we can clearly see results of processes set into motion two or three decades ago.

[Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful collection of essays. Even years after they were written, they still sound informed and true. His focus is Central Europe, not all of Europe. Combining historical analysis with personal involvement, it's incredible to read about the events he describes. I feel a certain jealousy of a man who consciously searched out History, found it, and knew what he was looking at.

[Kimberly]

I've read several books by this author: The Polish Revolution, The Uses of Adversity, and The Magic Lantern. He's a fantastic author; a reporter in Central Europe who witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Empire and rejection of Communism in several nations.

[Michael Greening · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garton Ash shows again why he is the preeminent contemporary European historian writing today. Want to know what happened in Europe during the 1990s? This book is for you. Want to know what happened in Europe over the last thirty years? Read his other books...

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and thought provoking book of essays from one of Britain's foremost European journalists. His analysis of the role of Pope John Paul II in the fall of the Iron Curtain is particularly well done.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long going at times but made up for it by ending with a significant amount of discussion on the Balkans.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read on some tough subjects. Most of what happened are things that flew below my radar at the time. It was good to get some insights on the uneven nature of the end of the Soviet Empire.

[Fed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but lengthy