East European Monograph – serie

This volume consists of 20 studies on problems related to "transition to democracy" in central and eastern Europe during the decade following the collapse of communist states. The book focuses on preconditions and problems of transitions, case studies, patterns of performance and consolidation and inter-regional comparative aspects.

This is detailed account of the character and problems of Polish emigres in the United States from the end of the Polish uprising of 1830 to the end of the second Polish uprising of 1863. Stasik presents the activities of the Polish political exiles in the United States over a period of more than thirty years, explaining many of the basic causes of the emigration.

Bogdan sets forth criteria and methods of a structural analysis of the pictorial language as a first step toward a more adequate understanding of the semiotic system of visual arts. A structural approach to this pictorial language is presented along with a discussion of an information-processing model applied to optical illusions and computer simulations, and treatment of specifically paradigmatic case studies. Bogdan also discusses the Funeral Monument of Targu Jiu by Constantin Brancusi, one of the most important innovators in modern art.

Historians have long speculated on the role played by the Enlightenment in the rise of nationalism in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The present volume offers a new perspective on this subject through an examination of the Greek Enlightenment, its aspirations, and its relationship to the larger European Republic of Letters. Scholars of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe will gain access in these pages to rare and in some cases never before translated works from the time period; works that offer fresh and far-reaching insights into the nature, origin and development of nationalist movements.

This book tells the history of a tiny country caught up in four major world crises from 1938 to 1989 and how the American print media presented these events to its readers. The contributors discuss how American journalists and political cartoons portrayed, and in some cases stereotyped, Czechoslovakia during this period. They also study the relationship between the foreign policy of the United States and its press coverage. The book is for scholars and students of European and American histories, international relations, and journalism, and those interested in the role of the print media on foreign policy issues.

Wild Capitalism examines environmental issues in the "New Europe" of the twenty-first century. Specifically, it looks at how the meanings of "civil society" and "environment" have changed as environmentalists encounter the political and ecological realities of life after state socialism. Although environmentalism is a global social movement, environmental politics is a grassroots process in which activists creatively translate environmental issues into cultural idioms and political processes.

This is the first book in English to comprehensively examine the crucial first five years of Istvan Bethlen's premiership when, following the catastrophe of 1918-1920, he began the reconstruction of the country. Thomas Lorman argues that from 1920 to 1925, Bethlen engaged in a protracted and closely fought struggle to restore political, social, and economic stability. Bethlen achieved his objectives by re-constructing the governing party, which had been employed so effectively by Kalman and Istvan Tisza prior to World War One. Like the Tiszas' model, Bethlen's governing party was designed not to carry through a particular ideological agenda but rather to dominate Hungarian politics, which allowed Bethlen to consolidate the regime and restore stability. This book recognizes Bethlen's pragmatism. Lorman conducts extensive original research in Hungarian state and local archives and uses a methodological approach that examines, in detail, each stage of the political process by which Bethlen carried through the consolidation of the regime's power and the restoration of political stability.

The land, people, and history of the Balkan Peninsula have often attracted the attention of foreign historians and writers. Yet a lack of research in primary sources and an absence of critical evaluations of Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian histories undermines the credibility of such work. This collection, penned by eminent historians, examines Balkan cultural legacies in a variety of contexts. They combine approaches from history, literature, fine arts, and architecture, and address issues crucial to the cultural identities of the Balkans and Serbia in particular. Topics range from the activities of the Middle Ages to the early disintegration of Yugoslavia. Contributors focus on the question of territory and people and their geographical proximity. They examine commonalities of language, history, and cultural legacies, and revise perceptions of nationalism and ethnicity through an exploration of historical records and the political borders of state sovereignty.

This volume covers the author's life in the years 1944-1988. Born into privilege immediately before World War II, the author lived through the turbulent years of early Communism and later the Ceausescu-era dictatorship. Changes in government policy regarding class-warfare affected her family both professionally and personally.