That Was the Century That Was
By Ignác Romsics

Professor Romsics here, as in his recent much-praised book Hungary in the Twentieth Century, (Highlights No. 155) sees that century falling into four distinct periods. The "Golden Years of Peace" before 1914 are characterized by rapid economic growth and cultural dynamism, an absence of full democracy and a burgeoning nationalities question. After defeat and the Treaty of Trianon came the Horthy era, which was as remarkable for its continuities as for its discontinuities: the same political class, dominance of agriculture, the impoverishment of the rural masses, anti-Semitism and a flourishing of the arts. He analyzes the reasons for the alliance with nazi Germany, which led once more to defeat in war and Hungary's being drawn into the Soviet camp. This third period, he points out, can be sub-divided, though it is more clearly marked by discontinuities. Finally, he depicts the last ten years of the century, with all the difficulties of the successful transition to a parliamentary democracy and a free market.

A Proud Hungarian (II)
By Tibor Scitovsky

In this, the second and concluding extract from his memoirs, the distinguished economist describes with gusto his service in the U.S. Army. Corporal Scitovsky's adventures with the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, charged with assessing the effect of the aerial bombardment on the German economy, are described with a perceptive (and humorous) eye. In an academic career that took in Stanford, Berkeley and Harvard, he was always aware of his disclipine's limitations, an awareness that brought him to write his best-known and best received book, Joyless Economy.

On the Leash
By István Deák

In this review of Éva Standeisky's book on the role and reactions of writers to the 1956 Revolution and its aftermath (up to 1963), the Hungarian-American historian István Deák begins by noting the fundamentally different position writers occupy in East European societies. He stresses the dilemma that writers of Jewish origin, many left-leaning or even Communist Party members, found themselves in; populist writers too displayed a variety of ambiguous responses. He agrees with the author that there was no "silent collusion" between party and writers and describes the range of punishments meted out to those who had been prominent in the lead-up to the revolution.

Influence or Domination
The Post-War Settlement in East Central Europe By Géza Mezei

Hungary signed an armistice in January 1945 and was subject to an Allied Control Commission (ACC) until the conclusion of the peace treaty in February 1947. Through the diplomatic record, Géza Mezei traces the attempts by the Western Allies to temper Soviet hegemony in the region. The portents were already visible in the operation of the Romanian and Bulgarian armistices and their ACCs; soon after Horthy made his bungled attempt to take Hungary out of the war. The dilemma for the Western Allies after Yalta was to ensure post-war co-operation with the Soviet Union while trying to make it adhere to the Yalta principles. Even after Potsdam, "the Hungarian difference" vis ŕ vis Bulgaria and Romania still seemed operative, allowing the hope that her ultimate fate might be something like that of Finland.

Outsize
By George Szirtes

Ottó Orbán is a contemporary poet "whose work has already transcended national boundaries," notes the Anglo-Hungarian poet in his review of a selection of Orbán's poetry in Bruce Berlind's translations, the second collection of his poetry to be published in English.

Trapped in the Balkan Wars
By Erzsébet Bori

"Bosnian Muslims, a Briton born in Botswana, along with Hungarian, Croat and Serb volunteers died in the defence of Szentlászló, a Hungarian village in East Slavonia, just two hours away from Budapest by car." This remarkable documentary film by Zoltán Brády and Péter Pál Tóth is lauded by our film critic.