Book cover of Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land

Book description

In light of Russia's aggressive 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Goodbye, Eastern Europe is a crucial, elucidative read, a sweeping epic chronicling a thousand years of strife, war, and bloodshed, from pre-Christianity to the fall of Communism—illuminating the remarkable cultural significance and richness of a place perpetually lost to the margins…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Goodbye, Eastern Europe as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I'd been planning a trip to parts of Europe I'd never been to before -- Romania, Albania -- and embarked on a crash history reading course. I knew these countries (as defined by borders today) were new; I knew the peoples and their history were ancient; that they emerged from the debris of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires; and that the Soviet era gave way to unrestrained capitalism, McDonald's, Peugeot and Mercedes, KFC and Carrefour.

What I didn't expect is this book. It's not really a history at all, more a collection of illustrative anecdotes. The themes are tied…

If you love Goodbye, Eastern Europe...

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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