- ISBN13: 9781416586128
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
“You are opening a Pandora’s box,” Marton was warned when she filed for her family’s secret police fi les in Budapest. But her family history — during both the Nazi and the Communist periods — was too full of shadows. The files revealed terrifying truths: secret love aff airs, betrayals inside the family circle, torture and brutalities alongside acts of stunning courage — and, above all, deep family love.In this true-life thriller, Kati Marton, an accompli… More >>
Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America
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An historical and autobiogrphical portrayal of life and survival behind the “Iron Curtain” and how one prominent Hungarian family was able to transcend political and personal tragedies. Of course, one has to have some basic interest in the time and place covered by this book, and so I was at a disadvantage. I was otherwise interested in, and perplexed by, the fact that a seemingly heroic man angrily rebuffed his daughter when asked about their shared but hidden religious heritage. The question itself, once posed, created 25-years of underlying family tension according to the author.
Rating: 3 / 5
Today on a site called The Daily Beast, I read a review of “Enemies of the People,” as submitted by Marie Brenner. The review was so powerful, I wanted to immediately start reading this book. (It also made me wish I owned a Kindle for times such as this!). Biographies are among my favorite reads. I especially appreciate those which include a historical context. This account draws from newly known Hungarian secret police documents, and that definitely intrigues me. I’m also drawn by the complex family dynamics which led to the children’s removal from their parents, and I want to know how author Kati Marton has since come to understand her parents and their actions. In addition, I look forward to learning from Ms. Marton about how she coped with that painful separation.
Because I saw no reviews posted for this book (just yet), I’m supplying what Marie Brenner offered which got me excited about reading “Enemies of the People.” Here is her review:
“Kati Marton’s Enemies of the People is a revelation. It is a tender yet unsparing portrait of her glamorous and complicated parents locked in the hell of a totalitarian state, and their escape from Hungary to America. Marton draws on hundreds of pages of newly-discovered documents from AVO, Hungary’s vicious secret police, a Pandora’s Box revealing little-known facts of her life.
Her parents, Endre and Ilona Marton, struggled as the last independent reporters behind the Iron Curtain. In Hungary’s most repressive era, the Martons drove through Budapest in a white Studebaker convertible, honed their contacts in the American embassy and at times seemed willfully naïve to the possible dangers for their daughters. As journalists filing for the AP and UPI, the Martons’ pursuit of the truth would result in their ultimate arrest and isolation from Kati and her sister Juli, farmed out to a foster family.
More than 50 years later, Marton masterfully details the betrayals of those closest to her family and the uncommon courage it took her parents to survive. “Children cannot fully know their parents,” Marton writes. Enemies of the People suggests otherwise.
Rating: 5 / 5
Kati Marton writes a memorable story of one family’s experience during the “dark days” of Hungary. For those not familiar with this time in the history of Hungary, the story would be hard to follow. I was able to fill in much of the feel of that time because of my familiarity with it. Her account did not give a full description of what life was like for most Hungarians living under the rule of Rakosi. Her family experiences the strain of being labeled spies but did not seem to endure the suffering of many others. It was a good read and I felt I really knew this family by the end of the book.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is a well-written book about an interesting subject. However, my favorite subject is history and I have already read about the general subject this book concerns itself with. Because of that, this book really didn’t offer me any really new information about the country and the time the events took place.
Also, for me the book was so narrowly focused on just one family that I lost interest at times. However, this focus on just the author’s parents also makes the book much more personal as it lets us know how totalitarian governments can really mess up people’s lives instead of just some vague idea of repression somewhere long ago and far away. But, in my opinion, the book needs some editing as it became tedious at times.
This is a decent book overall. For me, however, I found myself skimming through it in places instead of thoroughly reading it. But, if you have little knowledge about this time and place in history, you will probably find it more interesting that I did.
Rating: 3 / 5
Although this is a deeply personal book, it should be of interest to anyone interested in modern European history. Marton is a fluid writer, and adept at sharing the personal with her readers. I recommend it highly, and feel it is an important book.
Rating: 5 / 5