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The Captive Nations: Eastern Europe : 1945-1990
The Captive Eastern Europe : 1945-1990
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
281 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 25, 2020
Grogan's excellent survey of postwar eastern Europe, from the end of WWII through the period of communist domination, to the eventually liberation in 1989/90.
January 26, 2015
As satisfying as it is to watch the collapse of the socialist juggernaut responsible for so much suffering, so much misery, and so many brutal human rights violations, this book falls a bit short of the mark.
Partly, it's just a very dry read despite the exciting developments happening throughout Eastern Europe at the time. For the most part though, it was simply written too early. At the time it was published, the USSR was crumbling but had not yet fully collapsed. Many of the satellite countries had taken back their freedom, but Russia itself was still in the grip of communism. I really feel that the book would have benefitted from being able to end with a sequence of the Russian people experiencing free markets for the first time in decades.
Still, the book does provide some very enlightening glimpses into the hell that everyday life became for everyone on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. If you know someone who believes that socialism can work (they're probably a high school student, is my guess), show them this book.
Partly, it's just a very dry read despite the exciting developments happening throughout Eastern Europe at the time. For the most part though, it was simply written too early. At the time it was published, the USSR was crumbling but had not yet fully collapsed. Many of the satellite countries had taken back their freedom, but Russia itself was still in the grip of communism. I really feel that the book would have benefitted from being able to end with a sequence of the Russian people experiencing free markets for the first time in decades.
Still, the book does provide some very enlightening glimpses into the hell that everyday life became for everyone on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. If you know someone who believes that socialism can work (they're probably a high school student, is my guess), show them this book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews