If there had been all-news television channels in 1956, viewers around the world would have been glued to their sets between October 23 and November 4. This book tells the story of the Hungarian Revolution in 120 original documents, ranging from the minutes of the first meeting of Khrushchev with Hungarian bosses after Stalin's death in 1953 to Yeltsin's declaration made in 1992. Other documents include letters from Yuri Andropov, Soviet Ambassador in Budapest during and after the revolt. The great majority of the material appears in English for the first time, and almost all come from...

Gyorgy Gyarmati and Tibor Valuch chronicle the significant years between the end of the Second World War and the game-changing events of 1989. During the so-called Rakosi Era, the Communist Party strictly controlled the operation of government and society, but everything changed with the revolution of 1956. The authors follow these events in depth and pay considerable attention to the Kadar Era (1957-1989) and the affect of "Hungarian Socialism."