Why read Lives of the Orange Men?

Book cover of Lives of the Orange Men

Book description

Between 1981 and 1989 in Wroclaw Poland, in an atmosphere in which dissent was forbidden and martial law a reality, the art-activist Orange Alternative movement developed and deployed their socialist sur-realism in absurd street-painting and large-scale performances comprising tens of thousands of people dressed as dwarves, in an effort to…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Lives of the Orange Men as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Joachim C. Häberlen

Author

How could a bunch of creative, courageous, but also somewhat crazy activists make the authoritarian regime of Poland under communist rule tremble? By bringing a moment of joy and laughter to an otherwise dull and grey world. That is what the Polish Orange Alternative Movement did during the late 1980s.

Lives of the Orange Men tells the story of the group. It’s a book that simply made me laugh a lot. Written as a series of captivating autobiographies—and not every word is to be taken seriously!—it is full of anecdotes of activists playfully mocking authorities. “What are those pills,” police…

From Joachim's list on The best books about protesting in post-war Europe: histories for hope and inspiration.