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The book reveals how everyday people survived political persecution and oppression, and champions human resilience in the face of unrelenting political terror.
In Life in War, the reader accompanies Shannon Woodcock, the author and historian, through intimate interviews with six Albanian men and women. We hear how everyday people survived shocking living conditions, political persecution and oppression dependent on ethnicity, political status, gender and sexuality.
This is a thorough and vivid history of lived communism in Albania, charting political and ideological shifts through the experiences of those who survived. Life is War stands as remarkable and profound testimony to the resilience of humanity in the face of unrelenting political terror.
An accurate and precise historical work, engagingly rendered from life narratives, it plunges the reader into the difficult emotional truths that are at the core of remembering Albania’s communist past.
Life is War is a valuable contribution to studies of everyday life under communism and dictatorship. Eloquently written and expertly researched, it will appeal to readers interested in life histories, war, communism, European history and trauma studies.
Life is War gives voice to the experiences of Albanians – men, women, Romani, Vlachs among them – who survived Enver Hoxha’s notoriously repressive and increasingly isolated regime. The stories Shannon Woodcock chronicles enrich our limited knowledge of everyday life in Albania, and are a welcome addition to social histories and collected memory studies of the communist period in Eastern Europe.
Introduction
Chapter One
Thoma Çaraoshi joins the party and sells the sheep
Chapter Two
Life is war
Chapter Three
Stories to make you laugh and cry - Mevlude Dema
Chapter Four
Just one moment can break a soul - Diana Keçi
Chapter Five
Invisible barriers - Liljana Majko
Chapter Six
Every historian has their past - Professor Riza Hasa
Chapter Seven
Day trip to Dragot
Chapter Eight
Children of the lost generations - Jeras Naço
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References and further reading
Index