Burdens of Freedom

Padraic Kenney divides his time between Wroclaw, Poland and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he is professor of history. He is the author of several books on Eastern European history and politics, including A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe, 1989 (2002).

• AcknowledgementsMapsIntroduction: The Shock of the New1. Different Paths on an Open Road: Economic and Social Change2. In Praise of Ethnic Cleansing? National Struggles3. Peeling the Past: Nostalgia and Punishment4. Portraits in Hubris: Democratic Politics5. A New Europe: The East in the WestConclusion: The Edge of HistoryNotesIndex

‘An exceedingly useful book a sensible and perspicacious assessment of the complex and often just plain confusing developments after 1989.’Michael Geyer, University of Chicago'The Burdens of Freedom makes sense of the paradoxical development of a vast and diverse region: its arduous economic transitions, its accommodation of painful pasts, and despite intervening disillusion and setbacks, its emerging civic stamina.'Charles S. Maier, Harvard University