Before Madeleine Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia—the country where she was born—the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.
Madeleine Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová) was the first woman to become United States Secretary of State. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996 and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate 99-0. She was sworn in on January 23, 1997.
Normally I am not much of a memoir reader. If I read I prefer to drown in a world that is not real, to read about fake misery and fake pain. Still I got attracted to this book. I read HhhH by Laurent Binet in 2012 and was intrigued by the history on WWII in Prague which pulled me to this book.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was written in a very light tone making the story easily accessible.
The story told is the history of Czechoslovakia and how it became to country it was when the war started. After that introduction the author guides us trough the choices made concerning the country and why some of those where made. It is clear the author had good connection with people who where involved in those choices or had access to documents in later days. I really enjoyed the insight feeling in the story.
I had however expected the book to be more about the family and their experiences in war time. Though it gets better as the story evolves I still experienced the story more as an insider view on the situation in Prague and the development in Czechoslovakia before during and after the war. I had hoped on more personal stories. It I however understandable because the author was only a toddler and got most of her information from interviews and papers from her parents and family.
If you want to know more about this period of time in Czechoslovakia this is for sure a must read.
Praagse Winter, het verhaal van mijn jeugd in oorlogstijd, 1937-1948
Author: Madeleine Albright
Publisher: Ambos/Anthos Uitgevers
ISBN: 9026323557
ISBN13: 9789026323553
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Original title: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948
Ambos/Anthos: Paperback
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon