Free: Coming of Age at the End of History

This book will be required reading for my children! The description of life in Albania at that time is nicely done and very sincere! Many thanks to the author for making Ziku (the gypsy beggar)a character in her book. As kids we used to both help him but also torment him at times. There are a lot of other people like Ziku in societies across the world that do not have a voice even though they might live in a free democratic society ! On this point of the critique of liberalism I do agree with the author!However, personally I have a different view and interpretation of that period of time in Albania and have reached somewhat different conclusions from the same facts.I think the character of Ziku in the book can also be seen as metaphor for the rest of the society who like him had been turned into beggars. The long queues for basic food, milk, kerosine, a doctor who goes door to door in the neighborhood asking to borrow a pair of grey socks. The author uses the example of the doctor turned into a corrupt politician as a reflection of the corruption in the new political system. That is all true but I draw a different conclusion here. We have seen corruption of politicians in all systems of politics across the world, especially in liberal democracies, so nothing new to be learned from that conclusion. The relevant question though in the example of the doctor is : in what kind of society does a doctor go begging? The answers for me is that this happens in a society where the equality comes in the form of the lowest common denominator- the beggar. That’s the point where everyone is equal and that is what communist societies across the globe produced especially in Albania and now in North Korea!The author seems to think that people can preserve their human dignity under all circumstances, a lesson from her grandmother. That would indeed be a noble goal and highly admirable. However, I do not think that happened in the case of Albania. When an entire country turn into beggars, have no freedom of expression, no freedom of religion, no freedom to choose the education you want to pursue, the dignity of being human is lost. The only way to gain the human dignity back is to rebel against the system and to take on the ships across the sea in search of a more dignified life. Take the journey that the prophets in the Bible and Quran had taken so many times away from corrupt societies. The ones who were left behind and did not undertake this journey to restore their lost human dignity would inevitably end up in a worst situation- the loss of hope in 1997. I personally see 1997 and its events as inevitable for a society that didn’t deal with the trauma caused by the loss of human dignity under communism. The pyramid schemes were just a catalyst, the real trauma laid hidden and it erupted into civil war. Blaming free markets for this event is easy but would miss going to the heart of the problem- the loss of human dignity during communism!It seems to me that in totalitarian regimes human dignity is lost and under capitalism human dignity is up for sale camouflaged as free choice!

Enjoyed learning about a part of the world unfamiliar to me. Ypi is a good story teller sharing her experience growing up in Albania.

I found this book very interesting. I have to admit that I did not know that Albanian had a civil war in the 90’s.

Albania, when I grew up, was one of the odd-ball small nations of Europe. It was communist but not aligned with the USSR, it was isolated from everyone, and no one paid much attention to it. Its last monarch was King Zog.Lea Ypi has written, I think, one of the best and thought-provoking memoirs of our times as she vividly describes her youthful days in Albania, both before and after the fall of the Communists. Here, her family embodies the political, social, and economic cross-currents of the 1980s and '90s in a closed society. Professor Ypi has the gift of lightening grim events with good doses of wry humor.This is no simple story of good over evil. It is a very human one, one of a highly intelligent girl trying to make sense of exceedingly complicated times. It will win prizes.

I knew nothing about Albania, other than passing along its coast years ago. It looked ominous and forbidding and was unapproachable. This account of a child’s view of life under its former regime, and then its “liberation,” resulting in eventual civil war is fascinating. And it provides a critical view of Development Agencies, with their impractical, “modernizing” policies, which manage to tear societies apart. It is a good read. I highly recommend it.

I recommend this book for those who would like to get a feel of what the transition from communism to liberalism felt like. However, the author was a child/adolescent at the time and so it is seen through this somewhat limited viewpoint. Ypi attempts to over come this by seeing the world through her father’s eyes, but it is less than fully convincing compared to first person narrative.Nonetheless a good addition to the historical narrative e

China, Russia and Iran are adversaries of US but to illustrate the military policy by describing the life’s of three top military officers is too simplistic, besides the author uses readily available open source and there is no new info worth learning

This is so much more than a memoir of a girl's experiences growing up in late 20th century Albania. The author provides a history of a country in turmoil as it morphs from monarchy to Communism to a brief democracy to civil war. She and her family endure the loss of loved ones due to political incarceration and execution, poverty and the vagaries of a corrupt political system. Throughout, her parents maintain their idealism and hope for a better future, if not for themselves, then for their children. In the end, like so many fellow Albanians, the author and part of her family must emigrate. As a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics, the author attempts to both interpret the world and change it.

Personal, profound, and a compelling read. I would highly recommend!

I relate to her experience. The comparison of the two social systems is thought provoking. She is a brilliant philosopher.

Thank you Lea Ypi for telling the story of so many. I have no words to describe how beautiful this book is. It is a story of survival, resilience, and family.