David Mason - Revolution and Transition in East-Central Europe: Second Edition

To my parents

Soon after the first edition of this book appeared in 1992, Jennifer Knerr, my editor at Westview Press, asked me to start thinking about a second edition. This was both gratifying and dismaying. It was gratifying to know that the book was well received by professors and students but dismaying to think of wrestling once again with the difficult issues raised in a book I thought was finished! It turned out that revising and updating this book was almost as difficult and time consuming as starting from scratch with the first edition, given the enormous number of changes in the postcommunist states since 1992: the horrible escalation of the war in Bosnia; the 1993 crisis in Russia; the rapid consolidation of democratic institutions in Eastern Europe; the disturbing rise of poverty, crime, and inequality throughout the region; and the startling left turns in elections in Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and elsewhere.

As with the first edition, though, I have tried to keep the book relatively simple in organization and relatively straightforward in presentation. For teachers who used the first edition, there are several changes that should be pointed out. A new on theories of social, economic, and political change. Almost all of that material still appears in the book, though each of the theories is farmed out to the sections and chapters to which it is most relevant.

Like any academic enterprise, this book benefited from the assistance, comments, and suggestions of many people. George Lopez, the series editor, first broached the idea of this book with me and got me hooked on the idea of a readable and accessible text that integrates history, politics, and theory. As I began writing the first edition, I had just finished teaching a course entitled Perestroika in Central Europe, and the book was in some ways an extension of that course. When I began to work on the second edition, I was teaching a freshman honors course entitled The Trauma of Transition in East-Central Europe. Students in both of those courses helped me to refine some of the ideas and concepts that are developed here. Lori Jancik, as my undergraduate research assistant, contributed enormously to the first edition in many ways: helping with bibliographic research; fact-checking; proofreading; and preparing the chronology. I am also indebted to Carla Randolph, a former Butler student who is now a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University. She read and commented on an early version of the manuscript and helped me out with speedy and efficient research in Bloomington, which included digging up some of the political cartoons that appear in these pages. Because this book is intended for students, the comments of Lori, Carla, and others were particularly helpful. Marta Goertemiller and Donna Charles, our departmental secretaries, also helped out with the book in innumerable ways.

Jennifer Knerr, senior editor at Westview Press, was patient and encouraging in prodding this project along, with both editions. She found some wonderfully thorough and thoughtful readers in F. Neil Richardson and Robin Remington, who provided detailed and helpful criticism of the first draft of the book. The manuscript also benefited from suggestions from Gerhard Loewenberg of the University of Iowa, Luan Troxel of Smith College, Dan Nelson of Georgetown University, and Paul Marer at Indiana University. Of course I did not account for all of the suggestions of all of these friends and colleagues, so any remaining errors are entirely mine.

Finally, I want to thank the three women who are the most important part of my life. My wife and best friend, Sharon, read parts of the manuscript, talked me through some of the ideas and organization of the book, and put up with me when I was absorbed and distracted by this project. My daughters, Dana and Melanie, always full of life and (almost) always cheerful, provided perspective on all this and often asked questions about communism, world politics, and East-Central Europe that I could not easily answer. My fondest wish is that this new world that they will inherit will be more generous, charitable, and peaceful.