The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe
A generation has passed since the overthrow (or perhaps implosion) of the Communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. For many in the West, the images seen on television remain vivid and joyful: hopeful Czech students speaking of a new era during their Velvet Revolution, the shocked face of Ceausescu as a supposedly programmed crowd jeers him, and, of course, Germans from both sides of the crumbling wall embracing each other. But, as this brilliant and haunting work proves, the past is neither dead nor buried, especially for those who lived through the Communist era and their descendants. Shore has utilized a wide array of sources, including her own experiences, interviews with party members and ordinary citizens, and government archives. The result is an often devastating portrait of societies struggling to come to terms with their past. Communists and former Communists are sometimes defensive and sometimes remorseful. Former dissidents take pride in their triumph, while youths wonder how their parents could have endured or even participated in such spirit-smothering totalitarianism. This is an an outstanding retrospective. --Jay Freeman