In this memoir, Konr̀d recounts his life as a writer in Hungary, telling of his escape to Budapest to survive the Holocaust as a child, his public and private life there and in New York and Berlin, his career in writing and as a political activist, and his role in the Hungarian Uprising. Konr̀d refused to leave the Eastern Bloc during the period of socialism. There is no index and the book is divided into two sections, without separate chapters. The book was translated from Hungarian by Jim Tucker, a classical philologist living in Budapest who has translated Konr̀d's essays, and edited by Michael Henry Helm (Slavic languages, U. of California at Los Angeles). Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
