Author: Tismaneanu, Vladimir
Title: Fantasies of Salvation: Democracy, Nationalism, and Myth in Post-communist Europe
Description: Princeton, Princeton University Press, (1998). orig.cloth. 24x15cm, xi,216 pp. Minor rubbing. VG. dustwrapper. ¶ Contents: Why Eastern Europe & Why Care? After Marx: The Return of Political Myth; Resurrecting Utopia: Ideology versus Mythology; The Leninist Debris, or Waiting for Peron; Vindictive & Messianic Mythologies: Post-Communist Nationalism & Populism; Scapegoating Fantasies: Fascism, Anti-Semitism, & Myth Making in East Central Europe; Is the Revolution Over? The Myth of Decommunization & the Quest for Political Justice; A Velvet Counterrevolution? Dissidents, Dreamers, & Realpolitik; Conclusion: The Mythological Construction of Reality: Political Complexity in a Post- Communist World ["Eastern Europe has become an ideological battleground since the collapse of the Soviet Union, with liberals & authoritarians struggling to seize the ground lost by Marxism. In Fantasies of Salvation, Vladimir Tismaneanu traces the intellectual history of this struggle and warns that authoritarian nationalists pose a serious threat to democratic forces.A leading observer of the often baffling world of post-Communist Europe, Tismaneanu shows that extreme nationalistic & authoritarian thought has been influential in Eastern Europe for much of this century, while liberalism has only shallow historical roots. Despite democratic successes in places such as the Czech Republic & Poland, he argues, it would be a mistake for the West to assume that liberalism will always triumph. He backs this argument by showing how nationalist intellectuals have encouraged ethnic hatred in such countries as Russia, Romania, and the former Yugoslavia" - Publisher's description]

Keywords: Post-Communism, Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, Communist, Communism, Politics, Nationalist, Nationalism, Political History