Customer Reviews

A Coming of Age

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Eventually the subject matter here will lead to huge volumes written on it. This is a short book however and the author has done an excellent job of succinctly going over the central issues. Some people have been shocked that O'Donnell attaches such significance to the issue of Albania's modernization. The obvious point to note is that in light of some of the hoaxes coming out of Cold War propaganda (e.g. "100 million victims of Communism") the author has a responsibility to treat the issue of Albania's modernization seriously. Did such modernization actually involve a raising of mortality among the Albanian population, or was the average citizen better off? Crackpot charges such as have been publicized by Conquest, Solzhenitsyn, Courtois and others really do require that we go back and look at the basics. At no time does O'Donnell attempt to classify Albania under Hoxha as what we might call "a free republic." There is no "workers paradise" idealization drawn in this book. On the other hand, the claims made by Cold War propaganda go far beyond merely asserting that repression periodically took place in Albania, China or the USSR and cast an image with huge demographic implications, suggesting populations all across Eurasia depleted by mass-killing. Nothing of the sort stands up to a reality check. O'Donnell's book is a well-organized presentation of all of the main points about Albania and its transformation during the Hoxha years. The reader is not at all expected to put the book down with images of a socialist paradise floating in their head, but works like this are part of a steady trend which is slowly shredding the old Cold War propaganda which used to reign. As more documents become available one should expect this pattern to continue.

For the uninitiated, this book has a fairly controversial thesis that Hoxha provided rapid modernization that was only possible under the aegis of the communist regime. The totalitarian methods of Hoxha, allowed him to strong arm Albania into the 20th century, despite egregious human rights abuses.

There are several comparative problems with this piece. The first is the lack of understanding of the state of the Balkans after the Second World War. Many contemporaries of the period felt that Albania was on par with Greece (some thought more advanced than Macedonia), as far as development, once the war concluded; if we compare the differences under two vastly different systems over the period after the war, the presence of the Marshall Plan-related Western aid to Greece was integral to the stark differences we see today. Hoxha on the other hand, continually shot his country in the proverbial foot, as he cut off first Soviet aid, and then Chinese aid, and made action after action that isolated his populace and set his country further and further into a economic tailspin. If Albania had merely coasted, even with a different leader (along the lines of Ramiz Alia), it would have been a far greater position once it emerged in the early 1990s.

My main objection to O'Donnell is that his assumption is that Albanian culture was fundamentally unable to appropriate modernization without strong-arm tactics. This is a cartoonish view of Albanian culture, that fails to recognize the variety of cultural representations between Ghegs and Tosks within the country, the differences between plain/valley Albanians and mountainous Albanians, and their respective economic and political roles. Lest O'Donnell forget, the British were on the wings to bring Albania on the Greek side of the Iron Curtain. And, Hoxha was never the communist ideologue that he presented himself to be. He was a calculated dictator bent on power at all costs, that orchestrated the most oppressive police state in Eastern European history. Between 1945 and 1950, Hoxha played off British, Soviet, Yugoslav, and American interest off each other, in order to solidify his own power and in order to choose the affiliation that would best serve his total control of the country.

To be frank, the assumption that such rapid modernization was only possible through Hoxha's aggressive economic and social restructuring is simplistic. Great strides, granted, were made, such as some of the highest literacy rates in the world during the Hoxha regime. O'Donnell also does well to recognize how coercive the Sigurimi (Albanian secret police) were. Yet, his central argument is where the book stands or falls. For far better analysis of Albania's communist years, see the work of Miranda Vickers.

O'Donnel represents "Getty-Rittersporn"-phenomenon, a new scholarship among Western historicians that aims to examine the history of Marxism-Leninism, not at bias, but as history. This objectivity is respectable and refutes the previous Cold War knee-jerk judgements perfectly.

O'Donnels work represents admirable honesty and respect regards historical facts. And the FACT IS, that within only 20 years, Albanians achieved what would had been taken 200 years in capitalist society. I definitely recommed this book for anyone interested in sincere research of history.

Author O'Donnell has captured the true essence of Albanian life and culture in this "can't put down" hardcover edition. "Coming of Age" is a must read for the entire family and I recommend it highly!

Modern history witnessed nothing like Enver Hoxha's reign of terror over His own people.From His establishment in 1945,Albania was turned into Gulag,although that is only euphemism for real state of affairs.Untill 1948's Yugoslavia's split with Stalin,His country recevied enormous ammount of help from Belgrade,although it was ally of Axis,but latter He becomed so loyal to Stalin,that He broke-up with U.S.S.R. after Kruschev's turning away from stalinism and embraced Mao's China.So,the idea that Hoxha was pro-independence leaders do not agrees with fact that under His regime,Albania was always attached to "Big Brother" kind of country,in a most servile manner.He brought total devastation and unprecedented poverty to Albania-The Land of Million Bunkers.Compared with Albania,Albanians in Yugoslavia lived in California.Yet,Author glorifies Hoxha as some kind of positive figure,as if His policy is recomendable one for todays World.

This is an odd book in every respect, and it reflects an odd historical phenomenon. Sure it is a fact that Albaina--Russia for that matter--industrialised and remained a soveriegn state throughout a period of terrible dictatorship. But these are simple facts, and not bases for a historical reevaluation of the true character of regimes.

This book reflects an attempt by the author to set himself apart by siding with a new historical school, one that I hope and have confidence will be disproven.

We owe as much to the twentieth century and the bitter lessons it has taught us, or most of us I should say.