In this arresting, intimate narrative journey, award-winning Eva Hoffman returns to her Polish homeland and five other countries-Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and the two nations of the former Czechoslovakia-historically transformed by the demise of Communism. The result is the penetrating personal odyssey across the other Europe and a vivid portrayal of a landscape in the midst of change. Hoffman combines the wise perspective of an outsider and the passionate concern of a native daughter to illuminate the forces informing the region’s complex politics as she captures the texture of everyday life in a world in flux.

Indispensable for anyone who wants to seriously come to grips with the experience of Eastern Europe. -The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Complex and full of the unexpected … Hoffman earns our trust as an observer. -Tina Rosenberg, New York Newsday

Written with incredible literary talent and intellectual soundness … An indispensable clue for anyone who is keen to understand how the new Europe is emerging from the debris of the Cold War period. -Ryszard Kapuscinski