In this new collection of essays, Adam Michnik - one of Europe's leading dissidents - traces the post-cold-war transformation of Eastern Europe. He writes again in opposition, this time to post-communist elites and European Union bureaucrats. Composed of history, memoir, and political critique, "In Search of Lost Meaning" shines a spotlight on the changes in Poland and the Eastern Bloc in the post-1989 years. Michnik asks what mistakes were made and what we can learn from climactic events in Poland's past, in its literature, and the histories of Central and Eastern Europe. He calls attention to pivotal moments in which central figures like Lech Walesa and political movements like Solidarity came into being, how these movements attempted to uproot the past, and how subsequent events have ultimately challenged Poland's enduring ethical legacy of morality and liberalism. Reflecting on the most recent efforts to grapple with Poland's Jewish history and residual guilt, this profoundly important book throws light not only on recent events, but also on the thinking of one of their most important protagonists.

About the Author

Adam Michnik was a leader of the dissident movement in Poland. He is editor in chief of Poland's largest newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, and is the author of Letters from Prison and Letters from Freedom, both from UC Press.

Reviews

"A powerful collection of essays."--The Economist "In special cases, one closes a book with the mind churning, stirred by the arguments within. In still rarer cases, one sets down the book and is moved by the spirit and character of its author. This is one such book."--Foreign Affairs "This profoundly important book throws light not only on recent events, but also on the thinking of one of their most important protagonists."--Foreword "Serious inquiry supports civility in public life, inquisition damages it, and whatever reservations some might have about his positions on particular issues, these essays show Michnik to be very much a mainstay of that civility."--First Things