Winner of the 2007 Marshall Shulman Prize
The 1956 Hungarian revolution, and its suppression by the U.S.S.R., was a key event in the cold war, demonstrating deep dissatisfaction with both the communist system and old-fashioned Soviet imperialism. But now, fifty years later, the simplicity of this David and Goliath story should be revisited, according to Charles Gati's new history of the revolt.
Denying neither Hungarian heroism nor Soviet brutality, "Failed Illusions" nevertheless modifies our picture of what happened. Imre Nagy, a reform communist who headed the revolutionary government and turned into a genuine patriot, could not rise to the occasion by steering a realistic course between his people's demands and Soviet geopolitical and ideological interests. The United States was all talk, no action, while Radio Free Europe simultaneously backed the insurgents' unrealizable demands and opposed Nagy. In the end, the Soviet Union followed its imperial impulse instead of seeking a political solution to the crisis in the spirit of de-Stalinization.
"Failed Illusions" is based on extensive archival research, including the CIA's operational files, and hundreds of interviews with participants in Budapest, Moscow, and Washington. Personal observations by the author, a young reporter in Budapest in 1956, bring the tragic story vividly to life.

..". lucid and stimulating... " The New York Times Book Review

"Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the new Eastern Europe and the collapse of Soviet control over it informative and incisive." Zbigniew Brzezinski

"Gati s book... is the most current and best-informed study of this rapidly changing world.... Professor Gati is uniquely qualified to understand and give perspective to the impact of perestroika and Soviet new thinking on the events in Eastern Europe." William H. Luers, Former U. S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia

..". a superb synthesis of the postwar evolution of Soviet-East European relations and the first up-to-date analysis of the revolutionary events in that part of the world in 1989." Michael Mandelbaum, Council on Foreign Relations

"An up-to-date and lucid overview of the troubled course of Soviet-East European relations at time of momentous change in the Soviet bloc." Sarah M. Terry

..". excellent analysis and synthesis... " Foreign Affairs

"this book is written in a lively style and is a good scholarly synthesis of the post-Second World War evolution of Soviet-East European relations ending in the revolutionary events of 1989." Canadian Journal of Political Science

..". a lively and perceptive account... " Military Review

"Clearly and simply written, this book is particularly useful as a compact introduction to the prehistory and transformation of East European politics." Choice

"It is well organized, readable, and sensitive to complexity; find the time to read it." History"