Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1998 (15. évfolyam, 51-54. szám)

1998 / 51-52. szám

makes people impudent. Not all of the tales are of such a serious moral nature. A few of them are nonsensical as well as funny stories. "The Giant Carrot", or "My Dear Father's Christening" are pleasing foolish tales, and "Cheese Strudel" will make almost anyone laugh.

So, if you are interested in Hungarian and Transylvanian folklore traditions and/or you would like to read some joyful and charmingly entertaining stories, turn to Emőke de Papp Severo’s book. You will have a great time. Eva Mathey

HISTORIANS AND THE HISTORY OF TRANSYLVANIA . Ed.

László Péter. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1992. Dist. by Columbia University Press. Pp. ix+254 pp. Index. Appendixes. Map. $39.00, hard bound.

Historians and the History of Transylvania is a collection of well written studies on the historiography of that region. As some of the authors in the collection point out, prior to World War II, a great deal had been written about Transylvania from a nationalist perspective, both by Romanians and Hungarians, and since then mainly by Romanians. The objective of this series of essays is to look at Transylvania in a more detached way, to assess the historical record and to demonstrate that the writing of history need not be an exclusivist and exclusionist exercise, but might actually enable different peoples and nations to perceive how much they have in common.

László Péter, the editor of the volume, has brought together the insights of an excellent group of scholars. Most of them are or have been on the staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) at the University of London. Unlike many American and other Western historians who shy away from the history of Transylvania with the attitude “a plague on both your houses," the studies in this volume are driven by a sense of responsibility both to redeem history from the quagmire of nationalist posturing and by a genuine concern for the peoples who inhabit this fascinating corner of East Central Europe. Their concern was spurred by the hysterical reaction of Nicolae Ceausescu’s "official'' historians to the publication of the threevolume history of Transylvania (Erdély története) by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1986.

The introduction to the volume is an excellent short history of Transylvania and at the same time a framing of the central question voiced by George Orwell in 1984: "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

The unstated objective of Péter's collection of essays is to counter polemics and vindictive personal attacks with reasoned arguments and effective documentation. Although all the essays are well written, they are of mixed quality regarding both the stated and unstated objectives of the volume.

We recommend this volume highly to all English-language specialists of ethnic politics in East Central Europe, for historians of the region, and particularly for Romanians and Hungarians whose fate is most directly involved. It is an excellent overview of the sources of the different perceptions in and about Transylvania.

Tőkés, Rudolf L. HUNGARY'S NEGOTIATED REVOLUTION: ECONOMIC REFORM, SOCIAL CHANGE AND POLITICAL SUCCESSION. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. xxiii+544. ISBN 0521570441 hardbound.

Rudolf Tőkés’ study on Hungary's political existence from 1956

to 1990 is an intellectual achievement of the first order. It is an analysis that will remain the standard work in the English language on Hungary during the second half of the 20th century. Tőkés has written other works of note on Hungary and Eastern Europe, but this study is definitely the crown jewel in a list of his works. It is an interdisciplinary analysis that "offers a comprehensive overview of the rise and fall of the Kádár regime." The stage is set for this analysis with a succinct introductory chapter that discusses Hungary's past to 1956 with objectivity yet concern. As George Schöpflin has observed Tőkés' "analysis of the end of communism in Hungary is thoughtful and thought-provoking, illuminating and authoritative." What makes this such an interesting and definitive work is the depth and the thoroughness provided by research that combines archival sources, economic and sociological data and integrates them with the results of personal interviews carried out with the elite actors of the Hungarian political scene. Some of the most interesting and insightful parts of this "elite centered" study are the profiles that emerge in his presentation of key leaders, like Imre Pozsgay, György Aczél, József Antall and János Kádár himself. The personal destinies of these individuals are effectively intertwined with the major happenings and long-range processes that define present-day Hungary. In addition to all this, the book is written with verve, and makes it interesting reading not only for the specialists in East European studies, but for any person committed to a better understanding of Hungary’s place in the region.

Várdy, Steven Béla. HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF HUNGARY

[European Historical Dictionaries No. 18]. Lanham, MD & London: Scarecrow Press, Division of the University Press of America, 1997. 813 pp. ISBN 0-8108-3254-1. $75.00.

The Historical Dictionary of Hungary is basically the first English language "Encyclopedia of Hungarian History.” For this reason, the term "Dictionary” is not really appropriate. The work is a comprehensive handbook of Hungarian history and culture and should be of considerable value both to the general reader and to the specialist. It is the largest volume in a set of several series of “Historical Dictionaries" put out by Scarecrow Press about the various countries and capital cities of the world.

The largest portion of this volume consists of the lexicon or encyclopedia section itself, which covers the whole spectrum of Hungary’s historical and cultural development from the origins of the Magyars to the 1990s in a series of short alphabetically arranged topical and biographical essays (pp. 81-748). The lexicon section is preceded by a detailed historical chronology (pp. 1-40), a glossary of geographical terms in well over a dozen languages (pp. 41-46), a list of the Hungarian heads of state from the early princes, through the kings of Hungary, the ruling princes of Transylvania, and the regents, to modern-day presidents and prime ministers (pp. 47-52), and a historical introductory essay that covers the whole course of the Hungarian past (pp. 53-78). It is followed by a detailed bibliography, divided into eight distinct sections (pp. 749-811). In contrast to most such one-volume historical encyclopedias it has been written by a single author. As such, it displays a unity in style and historical interpretation.

In addition to the development of Historic Hungary, the volume also covers some aspects of Hungarian-American history, including the process of emigration/immigration.

Among the appended materials, especially important is the glossary of geographical terms and place names, which makes it eas(Continued on page 8)

NO. 51-52, SPRING-SUMMER, 1998, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

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