The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe [Paperback]

Gale Stokes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195066456 | ISBN-13: 978-0195066456 | Publication Date: December 30, 1993 | Edition: 1

Gale Stokes' The Walls Came Tumbling Down has been one of the standard interpretations of the East European revolutions of 1989 for many years. It offers a sweeping yet vivid narrative of the two decades of developments that led from the Prague Spring of 1968 to the collapse of communism in 1989. Highlights of that narrative include, among other things, discussions of Solidarity and civil society in Poland, Charter 77 and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and the bizarre regime of Romania's Nikolae Ceausescu and his violent downfall. In this second edition, now appropriately subtitled Collapse and Rebirth in Eastern Europe, Stokes not only has revised these portions of the book in the light of recent scholarship, but has added three new chapters covering the post-communist period, including analyses of the unification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union, narratives of the admission of many of the countries of the region to the European Union, and discussion of the unfortunate outcomes of the Wars of Yugoslav Succession in the Western Balkans.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based in part on interviews with key participants which the author conducted in 1992, this crisply written chronicle of Eastern Europe's struggle for pluralist democracy from the crushed Prague Spring of 1968 to the present is an expert, panoramic guide to a rapidly changing scene. Stokes argues that Poland's Solidarity was a self-limiting movement that sought a partnership with government. A Rice University history professor, Stokes offers a devastating portrait of Romania's former megalomaniac dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, analyzes tensions between the new Czech and Slovak republics, and blames the former Yugoslavia's civil war on the narrow policies of Serbian and Croatian leaders. Eastern Europe's fitful transition from centralized planning to market mechanisms, he observes, is taking many forms, including the creation of thousands of interlocking directorates in Hungary and a new Polish regime's "shock therapy." Stokes also surveys the region's volatile ethnopolitics, including anti-Semitism and racism.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The rapid and unexpected collapse of the Communist systems of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe continues to mystify scholars and citizens alike. The recent flood of books on this topic (many of them excellent) poses special problems for librarians, who will need to choose carefully not only as to quality but also coverage. Stokes's work, which covers Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania, can be recommended as a coherent, well-written history that defines its time frame well, provides sound coverage, makes prudent judgments, and wears its analysis lightly. The book is particularly strong on the events leading up to 1989, especially with respect to Poland and Czechoslovakia and to intellectual and moral dissent. Stokes's overview traces the ebb and flow of personalities and events in a manner that is both accessible to lay readers and informative to scholars.
- Henry Steck, SUNY Coll. at Cortland
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (December 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195066456
• ISBN-13: 978-0195066456
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stokes places Communist Bloc in larger European context, May 8, 2000

By 

Matthew Ellis - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe (Paperback)

The value of Stokes's account of Communism in Eastern Europe is twofold. First of all, Stokes provides us with an incredibly detailed account of how and why the Communist Bloc nations abandoned their socialist regimes and ended the Cold War. By exploring the roots of the Cold War in the immediate postwar era, Stokes successfully traces the rise and fall of the nuanced Communist regimes of Eastern Europe.

More importantly, however, Stokes puts the rise and fall of the Communist regimes into the context of twentieth century European history and attempts to tackle the larger question of what we can conclude about Europe as a whole. Viewing Europe as inherently united and indivisible, Stokes pegs Communism as the second major tiding that kept Europe apart (Fascism being the first). Just as Communism seemed to be the most expedient solution for postwar recovery after 1945, by 1989, the bloc countries had realized that they had not found the solution.

This book is a must-read for anyone looking to learn more about the dividing force that was Communism, how and why the regimes revolted against it, and where the newly liberated countries are headed. Although it is not an easy book to get through (an abundance of details makes the book particularly dense), it is well worth the effort. For the most part, the writing style is effective and holds your interest, and the understanding of the Cold War and the meaning of the 20th century in Europe is invaluable.