Note: If this book is chosen for the group read, we’ll read it over 2 months since it is 414 pages.
Stalinism, that particularly brutal phase of communism, came to an end in most of Eastern Europe with the death of Josef Stalin in 1953 or at least with the Khrushchev reforms that began in the Soviet Union in 1956. However, in one country—Albania—Stalinism survived virtually unscathed until 1990. The regime that the Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha led from the time of the communist takeover in 1944 until his death in 1985, and that continued unabated under his successor Ramiz Alia until 1990, was incomparably severe. Such was the reign of terror that no audible voice of opposition or dissent ever arose in the Balkan state, a European country that became as isolated from the rest of the world as North Korea is today. When the Albanian communist system finally imploded, it left behind a weary population, frightened and confused after decades of purges and political terror. It also left behind a country with a weak and fragile economy, a country where extreme poverty was the norm.
“Absolutely a fascinating read, being rather a journalistic approach to the subject than a classic biography.” —Passionnée des Livres
“The extraordinary story of how one man held an entire country hostage for 40 years—and got away with it. More importantly, it provides a voice to the dead, the disappeared, the exiled, and the purged, who are brought to life in a number of absorbing vignettes. Giving them a voice, something which Hoxha desperately tried to deny them, is perhaps Fevziu’s most profound achievement.” —Wild Tour Albania