In the midst of the sweep of history, it’s easy to anticipate that the events of twenty-five years ago might soon be lost to memory. We might forget why any of it mattered. In such conditions, it’s the responsibility of those of us who, among other things, write for the record, to use the occasion of a significant anniversary to ensure there are accounts of what happened, what we saw, and what we think it meant.
(from Post-Communist Stories)

Twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall was pulled down by Berliners fed up with the division of their city, Stan Persky returns to Eastern Europe. In essays informative and insightful, he illuminates what some consider the final act the Second World War: the end of the occupation by the Soviets of Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Baltic nations.

Stan Persky is the author of more than a dozen books, including Topic Sentence, Buddy’s: A Meditation on Desire and The Short Version, which won a BC Book Prize for non–fiction in 2006. He teaches philosophy at Capilano University and lives in Berlin and Vancouver.

Brian Fawcett is a past editor of Books in Canada, a former columnist for The Globe & Mail, and a founding editor of the internationally-followed Internet news service, www.dooneyscafe.com. Born in Prince George, he has lived in Toronto since 1991.

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