Between Utopia and disillusionment : a narrative of the political transformation in Eastern Europe / Henri Vogt.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [316]-327) and index.

1. Narratives of the revolutions -- 2. Revolution as a utopia -- 3. Utopia not yet fulfilled : ambivalence after the revolutions -- 4. Utopia not fulfilled : disillusionment -- 5. Individualism as a utopia -- 6. Collective utopias : from national independence to Europe -- Conclusion : politics between utopia and disillusionment -- App. 1. The interviews and the method of analysis -- App. 2. Themes of the interviews -- App. 3. Themes for the Czech essayists -- App. 4. President Lennart Meri's speeches analysed in chapter 6 -- App. 5. Translations of the German interview passages.

"Focusing primarily on five main themes: the heritage of 1989 revolutions, ambivalence, disillusionment, individualism, and collective identities, this book explores the expectations and goals that ordinary Eastern Europeans had during the 1989 revolutions and the decade thereafter, and also the problems and disappointments they encountered in the course of the transformation. The analysis is based on interviews with university students and young intellectuals in the Czech Republic, Eastern Germany and Estonia in the 1990s, which in themselves have considerable value as historical documents."--BOOK JACKET.