Anne Applebaum’s Strategy of Telling the History of International Relations in Central and Eastern Europe

Bogdana Nosova

doi:10.14746/ps.2021.1.6

Abstract

The text aims to present the strategy used by Anne Applebaum to bring the history of Central and Eastern Europe closer to western audiences. In the article, the author was presented as a journalist and public intellectual who developed an original way of speaking and writing about the past of Central and Eastern Europe. She has been portrayed as a kind of mediator who attempts to explain the essence and sources of the diverse identities and narratives that have formed among the nations and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. Selected assessments of her activity, formulated by historians as well as public opinion leaders, were also presented.

Highlights

The text aims to present the strategy used by Anne Applebaum to bring the history of Central and Eastern Europe closer to western audiences
Applebaum’s research revives the historical memory of the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe, their national and cultural identities. Referring to her works and self-identifications we can assume that struggling to comprehend the region she remains under the influence of an Italian researcher, Andrea Graziosi, who studied the state of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II, or as he called it after the “great European war” (Graziosi, 2001: 282)
Applebaum’s research, as she refers to his works in her book, Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine (Applebaum, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

The text aims to present the strategy used by Anne Applebaum to bring the history of Central and Eastern Europe closer to western audiences. A. Applebaum’s research revives the historical memory of the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe, their national and cultural identities.

Results

Conclusion