In search of lost meaning : the new Eastern Europe / Adam Michnik ; edited by Irena Grudzinska Gross ; translated by Roman S. Czarny, with a foreword by Vaclav Havel and an introduction by John Darnton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Michnik, Adam.

Contributor:

Grudzińska-Gross, Irena.

Standardized Title:

W poszukiwaniu utraconego sensu. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social ethics.

Social ethics--Poland.

Social change--Europe, Eastern.

Social change.

Social change--Poland.

Poland--Politics and government--1980-1989.

Poland.

Europe, Eastern--Politics and government--1945-1989.

Europe, Eastern.

Europe, Eastern--Politics and government--1989-.

Europe, Central--Politics and government--1989-.

Europe, Central.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

In this new collection of essays, Adam Michnik-one of Europe's leading dissidents-traces the post-cold-war transformation of Eastern Europe. He writes again in opposition, this time to post-communist elites and European Union bureaucrats. Composed of history, memoir, and political critique, In Search of Lost Meaning shines a spotlight on the changes in Poland and the Eastern Bloc in the post-1989 years. Michnik asks what mistakes were made and what we can learn from climactic events in Poland's past, in its literature, and the histories of Central and Eastern Europe. He calls attention to pivotal moments in which central figures like Lech Walesa and political movements like Solidarity came into being, how these movements attempted to uproot the past, and how subsequent events have ultimately challenged Poland's enduring ethical legacy of morality and liberalism. Reflecting on the most recent efforts to grapple with Poland's Jewish history and residual guilt, this profoundly important book throws light not only on recent events, but also on the thinking of one of their most important protagonists.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword: About Michnik

Editor's Note

Introduction: Michnik

1. Poland at the Turning Point: Fifteen Years of Transformation, Fifteen Years of Gazeta Wyborcza

2. In Search of Lost Meaning: The Twenty- Fifth Anniversary of the Solidarity Movement

3. Rage and Shame, Sadness and Pride: The Twenty- Fourth Anniversary of the Imposition of Martial Law

4. The Bitter Memory of Budapest: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Budapest Uprising

5. The Sadness of the Gutter

6. Accusers and Traitors

7. The Accusers and the Noncivic Acts

8. A Wound upon Adam Mickiewicz's Brow

9. The Kielce Pogrom: Two Examinations of Conscience

10. The Shock of Jedwabne

Glossary: Guide to Events and People

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613278135

9781283278133

1283278138

9780520949478

0520949471

OCLC:

707080705