How We Survived Communisam and Even Laughed, Drakulić, Slavenka

“If How We Survived Communism were simply the first feminist report on women's lives in Eastern Europe, it would be essential reading in every women’s studies program. The beauty and precision of Drakulić’s writing make it much more than that: we can feel these lives, walk into their rooms, smell their soup. We can get under the skin of her fear as war enters her city. Never underestimate the need for such particular knowledge, our need to grasp the ambiguity, hesitation, and conflict at the roots of theory. Women’s Review of Books Perhaps the greatest appeal of How We Survived Communism lies in Ms. Drakulić’s skill at blending provocative analysis with the texture of everyday life: a young girl’s awe before a luxurious foreign doll, an Eastern European’s envious amazement at the workings of the American phone system and painful bewilderment at the vast poverty in New York… A thoughtful, beautifully written collection. New York Times Book Review Slavenka Drakulić has been called the Simone de Beauvoir of Eastern Europe, and this book is a testament to why.“

Robin Morgan