Red Hangover

“Kristen Ghodsee courageously confronts the liberal triumphalism that refuses to learn from seventy years of state socialism, acknowledge the tragic human costs of forced privatization, or recognize the gross inequities of capitalism. Her brilliant essays and stories provide a potent allegory of our present condition: the real cost of the continued demonization of socialism is democracy.” - Jodi Dean, author of Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics

"Our 'post-factual' present is a moment of crisis, which renders it all the more crucial that scholars with deep knowledge of Eastern Europe be able to write for a wide audience. Kristen Ghodsee does this unusually well, with a good sense of pitch, appealing self-awareness, and the ability to conjure up the perfect ironic phrase. Her central argument is very provocative: Fukuyama’esque Western triumphalism has led us to the present catastrophic state of Europe—and perhaps of the United States of America as well. In my opinion the apocalyptic epilogue is fantastically cast—in part because I share the author’s creepy Weimaresque feeling. I hope she is wrong, but I fear she is right." - Marci Shore, author of The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe

"A banquet of a book, full of unexpected dishes.... Ghodsee writes with moral seriousness and exceptional force, and Red Hangover is the rare academic book that is compulsively readable and thoroughly compelling." - Patrick Iber, Los Angeles Review of Books

"I have read and loved all Ghodsee's books, each one more than the last. Red Hangover is the most complex, melding personal and professional experience with history and political theory...." - Deena Stryker, OpEd News

"Ghodsee is an amazingly subtle and nuanced ethnographer...." - Maria Todorova, Current History

"This is an extraordinary book . . . Different genres are employed to great effect, offering a multidimensional view of the postcommunist world. . . . A real contribution to the re-narration of European history after 1989." - Wim de Jong, H-Socialisms, H-Net Reviews

"Kristen Ghodsee wrote Red Hangover for the nonexpert, especially for the student born after 1989 who is trying to make sense of the present. The truly broad readership I can envision for this book, however, encompasses not only young people but rather anyone concerned about the fate of democracy." - Adrienne J. Cohen, American Ethnologist

"Red Hangover is a brave book, one that brims with urgency concerning the current state of the world and the possibilities for improving it—possibilities that are enhanced, she believes, by taking the communist experience seriously. In short, she makes the study of eastern Europe, both under socialism and after it, crucial in effort to envisage a more viable future." - Katherine Verdery, Slavic Review

"Red Hangover is an instructive introductory reading for everyone trying to understand the global postsocial-ist condition." - Dora Komnenovic, Sudosteuropa

"Surveying the present friction, the gripping essays and captivating short-fiction that comprise this infinitely accessible volume, Red Hangover opens up an important space for considering how the history, ideals, and experiences of twentieth century socialism can (and should) inform mainstream efforts at retooling the present and reimagining potential futures. . . . Red Hangover provides a clear, creative and gripping window onto the key processes and debates shaping everyday life in the post-Cold War era. The book makes for essential reading for undergraduates in anthropology, history, and European studies as well as readers beyond the classroom setting who are interested in cultivating a more critical understanding of a tumultuous present." - Bruce O’Neill, Studies of Transition States and Societies

“Red Hangover provides an immensely valuable contribution to the literature on post-socialist futures and critiques of liberal democracies. . . . With its creative and engaging writing style, Red Hangover is an empowering book for those of us who feel estranged and cast aside by the looming darkness.”