Albania!
Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History by Lea Ypi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
ALBANIA! If you haven’t yet read Lea Ypi’s delightful and surprising book about growing up in that eccentric little country, you must!
From the death of « Uncle Enver », as patriotic tots like little Lea called maximum leader Enver Hoxha, through the sudden and unexpected collapse of communism and the confused and sometimes violent transition to something Albanians think must be capitalism, with stunning examples of the conflicts, aspirations and self-redefinition you won’t find anywhere else. And it will also give you some context for considering Jared Kushner’s mega investment project there, reported in today’s NYT.
Amazingly, considering where she came from, Lea Ypi has become a very well-read and discerning writer and professor of political science, in English (one of her several languages) in the London School of Economics. She also shows herself to be a witty writer.