History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s

HISTORY OF THE PRESENT, hands down, is a tough book to read, folks. Less so because of its content and more due to its style, TGA lords us over with several compelling viewpoints in this thick tome, miraculously still valid more than six (6) years after it went through its first editorial review. Alright, let's take you through some of the good points, kids: ** timeless on the ground Central and Eastern European snapshots from the perspective of a non-native caught up in the heady times of pre- and post-revolutionary Poland and the former Czechoslovakia. In reading about these events told through the contact-lensed eyes of a foreigner, I found it beneficial to my own expatriate experience here in the Golden Captial of the Former Czechoslovakia. Ash's take on the region's history was another side of the coin not typically accounted for in the historical recollections of this period. Let me just admit to all of you unsuspecting types, that if one was looking for an overview of the period from here in Praha, for instance, chances are you'd get the event through the eyes of a "Czech" person. I appreciated Ash's chronicling of the time for this reason and many, many, many more. ** heaps of details about German unification, which I'd never known about, and which -- thanks to said intrepid Englishness for going where no bobby nor copper nor rock star (any other cliches I missed out on?) has gone before -- Ash supplies a radically-different angle than the traditional so-called primary source material. Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, or former Yugoslavs talking about it themselves. Like in the case of the rest of the world's dilemmas, especially in "Israel," it's best to have the world's media or others not directly involved with the issue to render their opinions. Of course, these are usually the more "objective" opinions. Don't you agree? ** a nice chronological interlude between Ash's long-winded smarter-by-half essays, giving dates and times of relevant and specific events that helped to situate the particular reader in the moment. Good on ya! Between 1989-2000, t'was. That's eleven strong years of some of the most contentious stuff of the latter half of the 20th century. I'm sure Ash collected more than his fair share of frequent flier miles. What an amazing person. I wish I could be him. ** a nice font, crisp and lovely-smelling pages, a nice colour-coordinated theme, so that people in the cafes where I'd been frequenting with the book didn't think I was reading some propagandist piece of written slop re-issued by the reconstituted Czech Commie Party. Way to go to the publisher for that bit of prophetic printed genius. Vintage, you're publishing my next book. Hands down. ~~~ Alright, now for some of the bad stuff: ** Ease up on the holier-than-thou refrences there, bad boy! Ash seems to be another one of those sharp analytical minds who fears that if he doesn't use the most intellectually-advanced lingo for even the most elementary of concepts t

I seized upon this book with eager expectation, as I had thoroughly enjoyed the author's essays in New York Review of Books. I was not disappointed as Garton Ash manages to maintain an overview and grasp of the whole, though some of the essays are short and almost ephemeral. His major point I agree with: Europe made a serious error in the early 90's by turning its back on the new democracies to the East, and going after greater integration of the West. The cost was disastrous in the Balkans - a war which might have been averted. Worse, European foreign policy was shown to be a complete sham, as the US (again) had to lead the countries of Europe to end genocide and terror within its confines. The book focusses on Poland, (former) East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, with forays into the Balkans (mainly former Yugoslavia. There is even a mid-90s meeting with the current President Kostunica of Serbia, when he was leading a small dissident party in protest against Milosovic. The author chronicles the end of Central Europe and the shift of 'the West' to the borders of Belorus and the Ukraine. The ending note is optimistic that Europe can overcome centuries of internecine warfare, and become peaceful and forward-looking. The irony that former communists now democratically lead most of the nations they once oppressed is not lost - 'creative amnesia' is celebrated in these pages. He disagrees with Huntington's clash of civilizations idea (that future conflict will be based on old religious modes of culture) by pointing out how Ruthenians (for example) straddle the Huntington divide. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful book of sketches written "on the ground" in Europe in the 1990s. The author is a well-known journalist/intellectual who introduced the West to the Solidarity movement in Poland, and wrote the classic first-hand account of the Revolutions of 1989. This latest release is an engrossing collection of short academic-type essays and societal observations mainly of Central and Eastern Europe. Ash is a master of suscinct, on-the-mark and poignant observations. He draws his readers in and forces them to question the West's attitude toward the postcommunist states, and realize the truth of life in those countries. For anyone interested in this region, or the eastern expansion of the EU and of the idea of "Europe".