A Carnival of Revolution : : Central Europe 1989 / / Padraic Kenney.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Kenney, Padraic,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2021]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 p.) :; 22 halftones. 4 line illus.

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- INTRODUCTION Street Theater, Concrete Poetry -- PART ONE: ACTORS, STAGES, REPERTOIRES -- CHAPTER ONE Eating the Crocodile with a Spoon, or, A Career Guide to the Underground -- CHAPTER TWO Come With Us! They Aren't Beating Today! The Art of the Blizzard -- CHAPTER THREE As If in Europe: The International World of Peace and Human Rights -- CHAPTER FOUR The New Politics of the Konkretny Generation -- CHAPTER FIVE How the Smurfs Captured Gargamel, or, A Revolution of Style -- PHOTOESSAY: PHOTOGRAPHING THE CARNIVAL -- PART TWO: A REVOLUTION IN SIXTEEN SCENES -- SCENE ONE: "I Blink, and I See Another World": The Candlelight March -- SCENE TWO: A Tale of Two Lenins -- SCENE THREE: Slovene Spring -- SCENE FOUR: Days That Shook Lviv -- SCENE FIVE: Strikes in Shades of Orange -- SCENE SIX: An Invasion Remembered -- SCENE SEVEN: WaterDam/ned: Hungary Defends the Danube -- SCENE EIGHT: Independence Day and Palach Week -- SCENE NINE: Encircling the Round Table -- SCENE TEN: Mothers and Children -- SCENE ELEVEN: On the Fourth of June -- SCENE TWELVE: Hungarians Bury the Communists -- SCENE THIRTEEN: Korzos and Road Races -- SCENE FOURTEEN: Lviv Passes the Baton -- SCENE FIFTEEN: The Mosquito and the Messedemos -- SCENE SIXTEEN: Bring a Flower with You! The Velvet Revolution -- EPILOGUE No More Picnics, After the Revolution -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- Notes -- Sources -- Index