Overview

For hundreds of years, Bulgarian Gypsies trained bears to dance, welcoming them into their families and taking them on the road to perform. In the early 2000s, with the fall of Communism, they were forced to release the bears into a wildlife refuge. But even today, whenever the bears see a human, they still get up on their hind legs to dance. In the tradition of Ryszard Kapuscinski, award-winning Polish journalist, Witold Szablowski uncovers remarkable stories of people throughout Eastern Europe and in Cuba who, like Bulgaria's dancing bears, are now free but who seem nostalgic for the time when they were not. His on-the-ground accounts provide a fascinating portrait of social and economic upheaval and a lesson in the challenges of freedom and the seductions of authoritarian rule.

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9781538521625

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Reviews

Reports from the post-Communist world read like fairy-tales with the stench of reality. Absurd, darkly funny, compassionate, his book is a literary jewel. -- Ian Buruma, author of Year Zero A surprising look at societies grappling with profound change. -- Kirkus Reviews A sharply drawn account...Heartrending. -- Publishers Weekly Fascinating. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune Fascinating...A set of case studies full of tensions and contradictions. -- New Republic Utterly original...Provokes a far-reaching and unresolved conversation about what freedom might really mean. -- New York Times Book Review Mixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr. Szablowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it. -- Timothy Snyder, New York Times bestselling author

A sharply drawn account...Heartrending. -- Publishers Weekly A surprising look at societies grappling with profound change. -- Kirkus Reviews Fascinating...A set of case studies full of tensions and contradictions. -- New Republic Fascinating. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune Mixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr. Szablowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it. -- Timothy Snyder, New York Times bestselling author Reports from the post-Communist world read like fairy-tales with the stench of reality. Absurd, darkly funny, compassionate, his book is a literary jewel. -- Ian Buruma, author of Year Zero Utterly original...Provokes a far-reaching and unresolved conversation about what freedom might really mean. -- New York Times Book Review

"A sharply drawn account...Heartrending. -- ""Publishers Weekly"" A surprising look at societies grappling with profound change. -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Fascinating...A set of case studies full of tensions and contradictions. -- ""New Republic"" Fascinating. -- ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"" Mixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr. Szablowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it. -- ""Timothy Snyder, New York Times bestselling author"" Reports from the post-Communist world read like fairy-tales with the stench of reality. Absurd, darkly funny, compassionate, his book is a literary jewel. -- ""Ian Buruma, author of Year Zero"" Utterly original...Provokes a far-reaching and unresolved conversation about what freedom might really mean. -- ""New York Times Book Review"""

Author Information

Witold Szablowski is an award-winning Polish journalist. His reportage on the problem of illegal immigrants flocking to the EU won the European Parliament Journalism Award, and his book about Turkey, The Assassin from Apricot City, won the Beata Pawlak Award and an English PEN Award and was nominated for the NIKE Award, Poland's most prestigious book award. Szablowski lives in Warsaw. Antonia Lloyd-Jones is a prize-winning literary translator, working from Polish to English. Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than three thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile's Golden Voices in 2012. Claire Bloom, CBE, is an English film and stage actress, known for leading roles in plays such as Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll's House, and Long Day's Journey into Night, along with nearly sixty films and countless television roles, during a career spanning over six decades. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen's birthday honors for services to drama.

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