The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents (National Security Archive Cold War Reader) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9639241660 ISBN 13: 9789639241664

Publisher: Central European University Press, 2002

Synopsis

If there had been all-news television channels in 1956, viewers around the world would have been glued to their sets between October 23 and November 4. This book tells the story of the Hungarian Revolution in 120 original documents, ranging from the minutes of the first meeting of Khrushchev with Hungarian bosses after Stalin's death in 1953 to Yeltsin's declaration made in 1992. Other documents include letters from Yuri Andropov, Soviet Ambassador in Budapest during and after the revolt. The great majority of the material appears in English for the first time, and almost all come from archives that were inaccessible until the 1990s.

About this title

About the Author:

Csaba Bekes is Director of the Cold War History Research Centre and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Budapest. Malcolm Byrne is Deputy Director and Director of Research at the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. Janos Rainer is General Director of the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Review:

"There is no publication, in any language, that would even approach the thoroughness, reliability, and novelty of this monumental work. Unlike all the other documentary collections, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution is based mainly on recently opened original sources in the Hungarian, Soviet and US archives." - István Deák, Columbia University
"One cannot stop reading. It is a sad story of hopeless struggle, of reckless Soviet actions, of the passivity of the west, and of the death of thousands of Hungarians. Nevertheless, it is also the tale of a heroic struggle that fatally wounded the Soviet empire and undermined the communist regimes, leading to victory in the long run." - Slavic Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 9639241660
• ISBN 13: 9789639241664
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 664
• Editor: Békés Csaba, Byrne Malcolm, Rainer János M.