My crazy century /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Klíma, Ivan.
Uniform title:Moje šílené století. English
Imprint:New York : Grove Press, [2013].
©2013.
Description:534 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : portraits ; 24 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/9700895
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:0802121705
9780802121707
Notes:First published in Czech as two volumes: Moje šílené století and Moje šílené století II by Nakladatelství Academia, Prague.
Summary:Czech writer Ivan Klima masterfully recounts, first, what it was like for him as a Jewish child confronting with his family the inhumanities of the Theresienstadt concentration camp situated at the edge of their hometown, Prague. Then, more fully, he painstakingly recalls what it was like for him and his countrymen after the Nazi thugs were driven out by the Soviet Army and replaced for four decades by the Communist thugs.
Description
Summary:In his intimate autobiography, spanning six decades that included war, totalitarianism, censorship, and the fight for democracy, acclaimed Czech writer Ivan Klíma reflects back on his remarkable life and this critical period of twentieth-century history.<br> <br> Klíma's story begins in the 1930s on the outskirts of Prague where he grew up unaware of his concealed Jewish heritage. It came as a surprise when his family was transported to the Terezín concentration camp--and an even greater surprise when most of them survived. They returned home to a city in economic turmoil and falling into the grip of Communism. Against this tumultuous backdrop, Klíma discovered his love of literature and matured as a writer. But as the regime further encroached on daily life, arresting his father and censoring his work, Klíma recognized the party for what it was: a deplorable, colossal lie. The true nature of oppression became clear to him and many of his peers, among them Josef Skvorecký, Milan Kundera, and Václav Havel. From the brief hope of freedom during the Prague Spring of 1968 to Charter 77 and the eventual collapse of the regime in 1989's Velvet Revolution, Klíma's revelatory account provides a profoundly rich personal and national history.
Item Description:First published in Czech as two volumes: Moje šílené století and Moje šílené století II by Nakladatelství Academia, Prague.
Physical Description:534 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : portraits ; 24 cm
ISBN:0802121705
9780802121707