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The picnic : a dream of freedom and the collapse of the Iron Curtain / Matthew Longo.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, [2023]Copyright date: ©2024Edition: First editionDescription: xvi, 304 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780393540772
  • 0393540774
Subject(s):
Contents:
Prologue: Freedom's promise -- Part I: Just kids -- Part II: Europe's prison -- Part III: Breach! -- Part IV: The road to Berlin -- Part V: Democracy now -- Epilogue: Freedom's price.
Summary: "In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists organized a picnic on the border of Hungary and Austria. But this was not an ordinary picnic--it was located on the dangerous militarized frontier known as the Iron Curtain. Tacit permission from the highest state authorities could be revoked at any moment. On wisps of rumor, thousands of East German "vacationers" packed Hungarian campgrounds, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The Pan-European Picnic set the stage for the greatest border breach in Cold War history: hundreds crossed from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West. Drawing on dozens of original interviews--including Hungarian activists and border guards, East German refugees, Stasi secret police, and the last Communist prime minister of Hungary--Matthew Longo tells a gripping and revelatory tale of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain and the birth of a new world order. Just a few months after the Picnic, the Berlin Wall fell, and the freedom for which the activists and refugees had abandoned their homes, risked imprisonment, sacrificed jobs, family, and friends, was suddenly available to everyone. But were they really free? And why, three decades since the Iron Curtain was torn down, have so many sought once again to build walls?"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: Chronicles and examines the collective passion for freedom that shook the world toward the end of the Cold War.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 947.0847 L856 Available 33111011214810
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists organized a picnic on the border of Hungary and Austria. But this was not an ordinary picnic--it was located on the dangerous militarized frontier known as the Iron Curtain. Tacit permission from the highest state authorities could be revoked at any moment. On wisps of rumor, thousands of East German "vacationers" packed Hungarian campgrounds, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The Pan-European Picnic set the stage for the greatest border breach in Cold War history: hundreds crossed from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West.

Drawing on dozens of original interviews--including Hungarian activists and border guards, East German refugees, Stasi secret police, and the last Communist prime minister of Hungary--Matthew Longo tells a gripping and revelatory tale of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain and the birth of a new world order. Just a few months after the Picnic, the Berlin Wall fell, and the freedom for which the activists and refugees had abandoned their homes, risked imprisonment, sacrificed jobs, family, and friends, was suddenly available to everyone. But were they really free? And why, three decades since the Iron Curtain was torn down, have so many sought once again to build walls?

Cinematically told, The Picnic recovers a time when it seemed possible for the world to change. With insight and panache, Longo explores the opportunities taken--and the opportunities we failed to take--in that pivotal moment.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-293) and index.

Prologue: Freedom's promise -- Part I: Just kids -- Part II: Europe's prison -- Part III: Breach! -- Part IV: The road to Berlin -- Part V: Democracy now -- Epilogue: Freedom's price.

"In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists organized a picnic on the border of Hungary and Austria. But this was not an ordinary picnic--it was located on the dangerous militarized frontier known as the Iron Curtain. Tacit permission from the highest state authorities could be revoked at any moment. On wisps of rumor, thousands of East German "vacationers" packed Hungarian campgrounds, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The Pan-European Picnic set the stage for the greatest border breach in Cold War history: hundreds crossed from the Communist East to the longed-for freedom of the West. Drawing on dozens of original interviews--including Hungarian activists and border guards, East German refugees, Stasi secret police, and the last Communist prime minister of Hungary--Matthew Longo tells a gripping and revelatory tale of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain and the birth of a new world order. Just a few months after the Picnic, the Berlin Wall fell, and the freedom for which the activists and refugees had abandoned their homes, risked imprisonment, sacrificed jobs, family, and friends, was suddenly available to everyone. But were they really free? And why, three decades since the Iron Curtain was torn down, have so many sought once again to build walls?"-- Provided by publisher.

Chronicles and examines the collective passion for freedom that shook the world toward the end of the Cold War.

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