The haunted land : facing Europe's ghosts after communism Cover Image

Book

The haunted land : facing Europe's ghosts after communism / Tina Rosenberg.

Summary:

The Haunted Land is a look at how four newly democratic eastern European nations are dealing with the memories of forty years of communism. As one official orthodoxy replaces another, the people and governments of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia face ethical dilemmas as complex and wrenching as anything out of Kafka or Orwell. In the greatest moral drama of our time, Communist totalitarianism drew well-intentioned, even idealistic people into horrible crimes. Now, as formerly Communist nations attempt to atone for the past, there is the everpresent temptation to rewrite history to suit the demands of the present. Tina Rosenberg s journalistic triumph is to put a human face on the abstractions of intrigue and betrayal, memory and ideology. The stories in this book take place not just in the highest councils of government and courts of law, but also in smoky pubs and the most private chambers of the soul. The Haunted Land shows how people struggle with their own definitions of guilt as they learn their betrayers were their husbands, fathers, and best friends.

Record details

ISBN: 0679744991
ISBN: 9780679744993
Physical Description: xxiv, 437 pages ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Random House, [1996]
Copyright: ©1996

Content descriptions

General Note:	"Originally published in hardcover by Random House, New York, in 1995"--t.p. verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-426) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Part titles): Introduction -- pt. 1. Czechoslovakia -- pt. 2. Poland -- pt. 3. Germany -- Haunted lands -- Glossary of names -- Acknowledgments -- Selected bibliography -- Index.
Awards Note:	Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction, 1996.