A01=Padraic Kenney
Activism
Adam Michnik
Anti-communism
Author_Padraic Kenney
Bratislava
Category=JPA
Category=JPWQ
Category=NHD
Category=NHTV
Censorship
Central Europe
Charter 77
Civil disobedience
Civil society
Communism
Communist state
Comrade
Conscientious objector
Czechoslovakia
Czechs
Demonstration (protest)
Dissident
East Germany
Eastern Bloc
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Fatherland
Fidesz
Fighting Solidarity
Glasnost
Helsinki Accords
Hippie
Hunger strike
Ideology
Imre Nagy
Jankowski
Journalism
Lecture
Liberalization
Ljubljana
Lviv
Marek
Martial law
Mikhail Gorbachev
Military service
Mladina
Nonviolence
Open letter
Orange Alternative
Pacifism
Participant
Peace movement
Perestroika
Political prisoner
Politician
Politics
Prague Spring
Protest
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty
Revolutions of 1989
Rhetoric
Riot police
Samizdat
Secret police
Slovakia
Slovenia
Social movement
Soviet Union
Stalinism
The Other Hand
Trade union
Underground press
Velvet Revolution
Wojciech Jaruzelski
World War II
Yugoslavia
Zbigniew Romaszewski
Product details
- ISBN 9780691116273
- Weight: 482g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 31 Aug 2003
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
This is the first history of the revolutions that toppled communism in Europe to look behind the scenes at the grassroots movements that made those revolutions happen. It looks for answers not in the salons of power brokers and famed intellectuals, not in decrepit economies--but in the whirlwind of activity that stirred so crucially, unstoppably, on the street. Melding his experience in Solidarity-era Poland with the sensibility of a historian, Padraic Kenney takes us into the hearts and minds of those revolutionaries across much of Central Europe who have since faded namelessly back into everyday life. This is a riveting story of musicians, artists, and guerrilla theater collectives subverting traditions and state power; a story of youthful social movements emerging in the 1980s in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and parts of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Kenney argues that these movements were active well before glasnost. Some protested military or environmental policy. Others sought to revive national traditions or to help those at the margins of society. Many crossed forbidden borders to meet their counterparts in neighboring countries.
They all conquered fear and apathy to bring people out into the streets. The result was a revolution unlike any other before: nonviolent, exuberant, even light-hearted, but also with a relentless political focus--a revolution that leapt from country to country in the exciting events of 1988 and 1989. A Carnival of Revolution resounds with the atmosphere of those turbulent years: the daring of new movements, the unpredictability of street demonstrations, and the hopes and regrets of the young participants. A vivid photo-essay complements engaging prose to fully capture the drama. Based on over two hundred interviews in twelve countries, and drawing on samizdat and other writings in six languages, this is among the most insightful and compelling accounts ever published of the historical milestone that ushered in our age.
Padraic Kenney is Professor of European History at the University of Colorado. He is the author of "Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists, 1945-1950".
