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To date, by far the most authoritative work in English on 1956 is The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Reform, Revolt, Repression, 1953-1963, edited by György Litván and written by historians from the Institute of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. This is a group of historian scholars, some of whom bring years of dedication as dissidents and émigrés to the project. Together, they have done more research on the events than almost anyone in the world. The end product, at just over 200 pages, is actually just a summary of the events. Don’t buy this book for a exhaustive understanding of the role of Radio Free Europe in the events -- the book could use a bit more on this controversial subject, actually. Nevertheless, it is specific, full of detailed figures, dates, and quotes that bring the subject to life. Buy the book because it is complete and unbiased and incorporates much of the new archival evidence of the revoluton from around the globe. [...]
The reason to read The Hungarian Revolution is because the only way to understand what it was like for people to find freedom in 1989 is to understand the agony of having fought for it and lost 30 years earlier. |
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