{"product_id":"communism-and-the-remorse-of-zlatko-anguelov-9781585441952","title":"Communism and the Remorse of an Innocent Victimizer","description":"For decades Americans imagined life under Communist regimes to be grim, frightening, and oppressive. Not so, Bulgarian-born Zlatko Anguelov reveals in this eye-opening memoir. For the most part, life was just normal. People adjust; bread must be earned; families enjoy each other's company. If Communist governments were oppressive, that oppression became the norm for most people's lives; totalitarianism was mundane and even banal. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYet in the morally ambivalent world of the communism in which Anguelov grew up, everyone was both victim and victimizer. Few dissented; few intended evil. More typical were tales of compliance, complicity, and informing on friends and neighbors just as part of getting by. Whether discussing his schooldays, his marriages, or his career, Anguelov inexhorably returns to his theme of compliance. In moving but understated prose, he describes his own coming to terms with the harm done by compliance and his gradual shift into a more politically active stance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough the stories of Anguelov's own family and acquaintances, he illustrates the kinds of moral choices available to ordinary folk. The motives for collaboration range from those of his grandfather, who cooperated with the government because he believed fervently in communism, to those of his cousin, who cynically embraced the regime in order to prosper. Decades of learning to get by in such a system, Anguelov hints, may have shaped opportunists who now pose as democrats and who sought in post-communist reforms not so much political freedom as economic prosperity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this penetrating and provocative account, Anguelov challenges easy assumptions about communism, democracy, and Eastern Europe. His chilling insights into complicity under Bulgarian communism raise uncomfortable questions about the moral dimensions of \"going along\" in any system.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Zlatko Anguelov\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1585441953\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781585441952\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Texas A\u0026amp;M University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/04\/2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.27lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.64h x 6.54w x 0.88d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2002 pg. 375\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/15\/2002 pg. 106\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2002 pg. 687","brand":"Zlatko Anguelov","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48807422886143,"sku":"9781585441952","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/communism-and-the-remorse-of-zlatko-anguelov-9781585441952","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}