Making Sense of Dictatorship

"A long-awaited, comprehensive analysis of the inner dynamics of state socialism. The leading historians of communist East Central Europe explain how people—from party-state apparatus to young parents—domesticated and accommodated the experience of dictatorship, while creating their own meanings of normality and good life."—Małgorzata Mazurek

"This collection of essays represents an up-to-date scholarly account of the history of the Eastern bloc, focusing on the dynamics of everyday life and how they were situated in terms of a collaborative or antagonistic relationship between citizens and party/governments. By paying acute attention to conceptual issues, Making Sense of Dictatorship offers new ways and new material with which interpretative frameworks can be constructed. Thanks to the unifying theme, the high quality of the editorship, and the impressive contributions—which together have a unity and significance that exceeds their individual merits—this volume makes an unusual and important contribution to scholarship on the state socialist era in East Central Europe."—Mark B. Smith