Research Catalog

Velvet revolutions : an oral history of Czech society /

Title

Velvet revolutions : an oral history of Czech society / Miroslav Vaněk and Pavel Mücke.

Author

Vaněk, Miroslav, 1961-

Publication

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]
©2016

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Request for On-site Use Request Scan Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library	DB2227 .V36 2016	Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Mücke, Pavel,

Description

xi, 251 pages : illustrations; 25 cm.

Summary

"The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 brought about the collapse of the authoritarian communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia, marking the beginning of the country's journey towards democracy. Though members of the elite have spoken about the transition to democracy, the experiences of ordinary people have largely gone untold. In Velvet Revolutions, Miroslav Vanek and Pavel Mücke examine the values of everyday citizens who lived under so-called real socialism, as well as how their values changed after the 1989 collapse. Based on 300 interviews, Vanek and Mücke give voice to everyone from farmers to managers, service workers to marketing personnel, manual laborers to members of the armed forces. Compelling and diverse, the oral histories touch upon the experience--and absence--of freedom, the value of family and friends, the experience of free time, and perceptions of foreign nations. Data from opinion polls conducted between 1970 and 2013 factor into the book's analysis, creating a well-rounded view of the ways in which popular thoughts, trends, and attitudes changed as Czech society transitioned from communism to democracy. From this rich foundation, Velvet Revolutions builds a multi-layered view of Czech history before 1989 and during the subsequent period of democratic transformation"--
"This book investigates how values such as freedom, work, family, free time, and politics changed in Czech society in the two decades before and after the November 1989 Velvet Revolution"--Provided by publisher.

Series Statement

The Oxford oral history series

Uniform Title

Oxford oral history series.

Subject

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-242) and index.

Contents

Acknowledgements: The Privilege of Listening to the Voices of Memory -- 1. I Want to be Free! Civil and political rights -- 2. Transforming the family in socialism -- 3. Friends and Others: How Czechs Evaluate Foreigners and Foreign Countries -- 4. Education: gateway to success -- 5. From mandatory employment to unemployment -- 6. The meaning of free time -- 7. Us and them -- Appendix 1: Photographs by Jindřich Štreit -- Appendix 2: Our Narrators.

ISBN

9780199342723
0199342725

LCCN

2015044947

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library