In Red Hangover Kristen Ghodsee examines the legacies of twentieth-century communism twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall fell. Ghodsee's essays and short stories reflect on the lived experience of postsocialism and how many ordinary men and women across Eastern Europe suffered from the massive social and economic upheavals in their lives after 1989. Ghodsee shows how recent major crises—from the Russian annexation of Crimea and the Syrian Civil War to the rise of Islamic State and the influx of migrants in Europe—are linked to mistakes made after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc when fantasies about the triumph of free markets and liberal democracy blinded Western leaders to the human costs of "regime change." Just as the communist ideal has become permanently tainted by its association with the worst excesses of twentieth-century Eastern European regimes, today the democratic ideal is increasingly sullied by its links to the ravages of neoliberalism. An accessible introduction to the history of European state socialism and postcommunism, Red Hangover reveals how the events of 1989 continue to shape the world today. "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 "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 "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 Kristen Ghodsee is Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of several books, including The Left Side of History: World War II and the Unfulfilled Promise of Communism in Eastern Europe and Lost in Transition: Ethnographies of Everyday Life after Communism , both also published by Duke University Press, and From Notes to Narrative: Writing Ethnographies that Everyone Can Read . Red Hangover Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism By Kristen Ghodsee Duke University Press Copyright © 2017 Duke University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8223-6949-3 Contents Prelude: Freundschaft, PART I. Postsocialist Freedoms, 1 Fires, 2 Cucumbers, 3 Pieces (FICTION), 4 Belgrade, 2015 (FICTION), PART II. Reuniting the Divided, 5 #Mauerfall25, 6 The Enemy of My Enemy, 7 A Tale of Two Typewriters, PART III. Blackwashing History, 8 Gross Domestic Orgasms, 9 My Mother and a Clock, 10 Venerating Nazis to Vilify Commies, PART IV. "Democracy Is the Worst Form of Government, Except All Those Other Forms That Have Been Tried from Time to Time", 11 Three Bulgarian Jokes, 12 Post-Zvyarism: A Fable about Animals on a Farm (FICTION), 13 Interview with a Former Member of the Democratic Party of the United States (FICTION), 14 Democracy for the Penguins, Acknowledgments, Notes, Selected Bibliography, CHAPTER 1 Fires According to scientists, the human body, provided sufficient fuel or kindling to ignite it, can burn for seven hours. Of c