Hungary, 1956. The height of the Cold War. Three years after the death of Stalin, and the satellite states of the Soviet Union are volatile, on the verge of igniting. Budapest is the place where the tension will explode.

 

Weaving together interviews with freedom fighters and others who were there, this book will take you on an exhilarating insider's journey through the events of October and November 1956. Here are powerful and sometimes funny stories of student demonstrations, the toppling of Stalin's statue, fierce street fighting against Soviet tanks, and daring escapes. And the book visits Budapest fifty years on, to find out how things have changed.

 

Molotov Cocktails is a work of non-fiction that reads like a novel. It explores revolution, exile and our ideas of home. Most of all, this is a book about the courage of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events.

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PUBLISHED IN 2006