Eastern Europe Since 1945

by Geoffrey Swain, N. Swain

This essential text provides an engaging overview of the complex developments in Eastern Europe from 1945 to the present day. Tracing the origins of the socialist experiment, de-Stalinisation, and the transition from socialism to capitalism, it explores the key events in each nation’s recent history. This new edition has been fully revised to include the latest scholarship and places greater emphasis on everyday life in Eastern Europe. While continuing to analyse the major political events, the authors now draw on social and cultural history to build up a picture of what it was like to live under socialism, why the system became unbearable in the late 80s, and how individuals experienced the rebirth of capitalism.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, International Relations

284 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Geoffrey Swain is the Alec Nove Chair in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow.

Reviews

[Daniel Hammer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used this book as a text for a class on Eastern Europe. My aim is not to teach straight history, but to teach themes of life which have both historical and contemporary importance. Students, however, generally want, and sometimes need, a text that helps them put everything in order and to get their contexts clear. This was the reason I chose this book.
Unfortunately, I doubt that I would use it again. Swain & Swain's book is wonderfully organized. Each chapter focuses on a period of time linked to a political theme, while giving space to individual countries of importance. On the downside, the text is both introduces too many characters from political parties while providing too little general context to what they were doing. Sometimes it reads like a list of names, parties, and dates--as if the reader already knew what everyone was doing and just needed to know when. Needless to say, it can be confusing for new students.
I'm still on the hunt for a good text for class. For anyone interested in a great book about same time period--Europe since 1945--I think Tony Judt's "Postwar" cannot be beat. His book is wonderful to read and fully contextualized, guiding you to make sense of why certain events were important and how they relate to other places in Europe and the world. For an introductory class, however, it is too long and its Europe-wide focus does not work for a regionally-focused course. Ugh. Still looking...