Drawing on her own memory, her parents’ written reflections, interviews with contemporaries, and newly-available documents, former US Secretary of State and New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Albright recounts a tale that is by turns harrowing and inspiring.
Before she turned twelve, Madeleine Albright’s life was shaken by some of the most cataclysmic events of the 20th century: the … events of the 20th century: the Nazi invasion of her native Prague, the Battle of Britain, the attempted genocide of European Jewry, the allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.
In Prague Winter, Albright reflects on her discovery of her family’s Jewish heritage many decades after the war, on her Czech homeland’s tangled history, and on the stark moral choices faced by her parents and their generation. Often relying on eyewitness descriptions, she tells the story of how millions of ordinary citizens were ripped from familiar surroundings and forced into new roles as exile leaders and freedom fighters, resistance organizers and collaborators, victims and killers. These events of enormous complexity are shaped by concepts familiar to any growing child: fear, trust, adaptation, the search for identity, the pressure to conform, the quest for independence, and the difference between right and wrong.
Prague Winter is an exploration of the past with timeless dilemmas in mind, a journey with universal lessons that is simultaneously a deeply personal memoir and an incisive work of history. It serves as a guide to the future through the lessons of the past, as seen through the eyes of one of the international community’s most respected and fascinating figures. Albright and her family’s experiences provide an intensely human lens through which to view the most political and tumultuous years in modern history.
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European history and personal memoir of the author’s experiences as a young girl while events brewed in the years leading up to World War II. Diplomacy is in Albright’s DNA, and we see that from her observations of her father’s work trying to preserve Czechoslovakia from Hitler. Interesting and well-told.
Read by Ms. Albright herself, this book tells the story not only of her early life but of parts of European history. Both are fascinating!!!
I absolutely love Albright’s writing style. Very informative and easy to read. This is a must read for anyone interested in WWI/II. One of the best books I’ve read. It’s personal and has a lot of details of the effects of war.
What a surprise story about this well-known and admired lady. After reading, I have great admiration for her.
I learned so much about a place in the world where I knew far less than I thought. Because this is a memoir the story is very impactful
Interesting information about what happened during WW11 to Czechslovia.
This was a fascinating account from a perspective I’ve never read before. The author is an excellent communicator! Recommended!
Marvelous history of the Czech nation and the beginnings of WWII. she is an excellent writer.
I could not put this book down. This book is fact filled, but never boring. She described Prague so lovingly, that it became the main character in the book. I HIGHLY recommend this book.
This book is custom made for WWII history buffs. The political/historical background of events as they relate to Prague is very in depth. The personal family background that accompanies it is makes it all very personal. Madeline Albright is an amazing writer, which makes this book a must read.
I finished it because I could not get past the first few chapters. It was so dull, I might try again but it did not hold my interest at all.
I was fascinated by the book. It dealt with the families of the Check republic, how they were impacted by Hitler and his take over, and how the government survived in England through WW 11. It was interesting how Madelyn Albright came to realize her Jewish roots after she was an acult. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in WW 11 as well as anyone who is a decendent of Check or Slovac families.
They will be very enriched by hearing of their roots.
I was expecting more about her development
I found the narrative easy to read and the story compelling. It was extremely informative about the history of the time period.
Informative and insightful. However, it read as if it were propaganda for the Hungarian uprising which it undoubtedly was at the time it was written. I would have liked to see more post uprising and more coverage of the US response and why.
Outstanding historical and political review of the prewar-, war- and early post-war years in Prague. The account interweaves family, regional and world history in an informative yet very personal tapestry of events. This is a must read.
Albright gives us key insight into a critical time and place in European history and her families’ history.
Thoroughly researched and well written. A real eye opener about less known aspects of WW2, events leading up to it, and how history has shaped present day politics. Reading this book in 2018, it is a stark reminder of how history has a way of repeating itself, no matter how atrocious the events.
Interesting look into the life of a woman who helped shape and period of history.
Her descriptions of experiences during an historic time was gripping and honest.