Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
$17.73$17.73
FREE delivery: March 6 - 8 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Agarta USA
$8.12
Other Sellers on Amazon
FREE Shipping
100% positive over lifetime
FREE Shipping
99% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
- VIDEO
Audible sample Sample
Follow the author
OK
Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 Hardcover – Deckle Edge, April 24, 2012
Purchase options and add-ons
“A riveting tale of her family’s experience in Europe during World War II [and] a well-wrought political history of the region, told with great authority. . . . More than a memoir, this is a book of facts and action, a chronicle of a war in progress from a partisan faithful to the idea of Czechoslovakian democracy.” -- Los Angeles Times
Drawn from her own memory, her parents’ written reflections, and interviews with contemporaries, the former US Secretary of State and New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Albright's tale that is by turns harrowing and inspiring
Before she turned twelve, Madeleine Albright’s life was shaken by some of the most cataclysmic events of the 20th century: the Nazi invasion of her native Prague, the Battle of Britain, the attempted genocide of European Jewry, the allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.
In Prague Winter, Albright reflects on her discovery of her family’s Jewish heritage many decades after the war, on her Czech homeland’s tangled history, and on the stark moral choices faced by her parents and their generation. Often relying on eyewitness descriptions, she tells the story of how millions of ordinary citizens were ripped from familiar surroundings and forced into new roles as exile leaders and freedom fighters, resistance organizers and collaborators, victims and killers. These events of enormous complexity are shaped by concepts familiar to any growing child: fear, trust, adaptation, the search for identity, the pressure to conform, the quest for independence, and the difference between right and wrong.
Prague Winter is an exploration of the past with timeless dilemmas in mind, a journey with universal lessons that is simultaneously a deeply personal memoir and an incisive work of history. It serves as a guide to the future through the lessons of the past, as seen through the eyes of one of the international community’s most respected and fascinating figures in history. Albright and her family’s experiences provide an intensely human lens through which to view the most political and tumultuous years in modern history.
- Print length480 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper
- Publication dateApril 24, 2012
- Dimensions6.5 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100062030310
- ISBN-13978-0062030313
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may ship from close to you
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Madeleine Albright on Writing Prague Winter
On the evening of February 4, 1997, I led the cabinet into the House of Representatives prior to the President’s annual address—the first woman ever to do so. Exchanging greetings with senators and other dignitaries, my heart should have been joyful; instead, I was stunned. That morning’s Washington Post headline had read: “Albright Family Tragedy Comes to Light.”
I was 59 when I learned from a reporter and from certain letters I had received that my ancestral heritage was Jewish and that more than two dozen of my relatives had died in the Holocaust. The revelation shook my deeply ingrained sense of identity, and prompted me to seek answers to questions that I had never before thought to ask. That search began with visits to the small towns in Czechoslovakia where my parents had grown up and to the ancient synagogue where the names of Holocaust victims are enshrined. Prague Winter is a continuation of that personal journey, but also a much wider tale concerning a generation compelled to make painful moral choices amid the tumult of war.
In 1939, when efforts by British and French leaders to appease Hitler had backfired, the Nazis invaded my homeland. I was not yet two years old. My parents escaped with me to London where my father became head of broadcasting for the Czechoslovak government in exile. Strangers in an embattled land, we endured along with our new neighbors the terrible bombing of the Blitz. Back home, the German occupation quickly evolved into a reign of terror under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich, “The Butcher of Prague.” As preparations were made to exterminate the country’s Jews, Czechoslovak parachutists returned to their native soil with a mission: to kill Heydrich -- the only successful assassination of a senior Nazi during the war. In the months that followed that daring assault, Czechs suffered from Hitler’s vengeance, while Jews confined to the infamous Terezin ghetto struggled to retain hope despite overcrowded conditions and the periodic departure of fellow inmates on trains to the east. In England, Czechoslovak leaders maneuvered to reclaim their country’s independence; my mother and father agonized over the fate of loved ones who had remained behind.
From the day America entered the war, my parents and their friends were confident the Allies would win. As democrats from Central Europe, they prayed that the United States—not the Soviet Union—would wield the decisive postwar influence in our region. It was not to be. When at last the Nazis were defeated, Czechoslovakia became again a battleground between democracy and totalitarianism; before long, my family was forced into exile for the second time, finding a permanent home in America.
The story of Prague Winter is often as intensely personal as a mother’s letter, a father’s hidden sorrow, and the earnest artwork of an imprisoned ten-year-old cousin. The themes, however, are universal: loyalty and betrayal, respect and bigotry, accommodating evil or fighting back. What fascinates me is why we make the choices we do. What prompts one person to act boldly in a moment of crisis and a second to seek shelter in the crowd? Why do some people become stronger in the face of adversity while others quickly lose heart? What drives many of us to look down on neighbors based on the flimsy pretexts of nationality and creed? Is it education, spiritual belief, parental guidance, traumatic events, or more likely some combination that causes us to follow the paths that we do? My search for answers compelled me to look back—to the time of harshest winter in the city of my birth.
Review
“A gripping account of World War II. . . . In taut prose, Albright weaves a powerful narrative that wraps her family’s story into the larger political drama unfolding in Europe.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer
“In the crowded field of memoirs written by former secretaries of state, Madeleine Albright’s books stand out. . . . Albright is a charming and entertaining storyteller.” — The New York Review of Books
“Albright has supplemented a deeply researched history of World War II-era Czechoslovakia with a moving family narrative.” — The Daily
“Prague Winter is not only a family story-a proud and moving one-but a brilliant and multilayered account of how Czechoslovakia was formed along the most idealistic lines in the aftermath of World War I. An altogether fascinating and inspiring read.” — Michael Korda, The Daily Beast
“Showing us villainy, heroism, and agonizing moral dilemmas, Albright’s vivid storytelling and measured analysis bring this tragic era to life.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A genuinely admirable book. Albright skillfully returns us to some of the darkest years of modern times. Spring eventually came to Prague, but in much of the world it is still winter. The love of democracy fills every one of these instructive and stirring pages.” — Leon Wieseltier
“I was totally blown away by this book. It is a breathtaking combination of the historical and the personal. Albright confronts the brutal realities of the Holocaust and the conflicted moral choices it led to. An unforgettable tale of fascism and communism, courage and realism, families and heartache and love. — Walter Isaacson
“A remarkable story of adventure and passion, tragedy and courage set against the backdrop of occupied Czechoslovakia and World War II. Albright provides fresh insights into the events that shaped her career and challenges us to think deeply about the moral dilemmas that arise in our own lives.” — Vaclav Havel
“A riveting tale of her family’s experience in Europe during World War II [and] a well-wrought political history of the region, told with great authority. . . . More than a memoir, this is a book of facts and action.” — The Los Angeles Times
“A compelling personal exploration of [Albright’s] family’s Jewish roots as well as an excellent history of Czechoslovakia from 1937 to 1948. . . . Highly informative and insightful. . . . I can’t recommend Prague Winter highly enough.” — The Washington Post Book World
“Albright’s book is a sprightly historical narrative of this long decade. . . . Her account of the destruction of inter-war Czechoslovakia, both as a geographical entity and as an idea of democracy, first by the Nazis and then by the Communists, is balanced and vivid.” — The Economist
“A blend of history and memoir that reveals in rich, poignant and often heartbreaking detail a story that had been hidden from her by her own parents. . . . The beating heart of the book is Albright’s searing account of her intimate family saga.” — The Jewish Journal
“An extraordinary book. . . . Albright artfully presents a wrenching tale of horror and darkness, but also one in which decent and brave people again and again had their say.” — István Deák, The New Republic
From the Back Cover
Before Madeleine Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia—the country where she was born—the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.
Albright's experiences, and those of her family, provide a lens through which to view the most tumultuous dozen years in modern history. Drawing on her memory, her parents' written reflections, interviews with contemporaries, and newly available documents, Albright recounts a tale that is by turns harrowing and inspiring. Prague Winter is an exploration of the past with timeless dilemmas in mind and, simultaneously, a journey with universal lessons that is intensely personal.
The book takes readers from the Bohemian capital's thousand-year-old castle to the bomb shelters of London, from the desolate prison ghetto of Terezín to the highest councils of European and American government. Albright reflects on her discovery of her family's Jewish heritage many decades after the war, on her Czech homeland's tangled history, and on the stark moral choices faced by her parents and their generation. Often relying on eyewitness descriptions, she tells the story of how millions of ordinary citizens were ripped from familiar surroundings and forced into new roles as exiled leaders and freedom fighters, resistance organizers and collaborators, victims and killers. These events of enormous complexity are nevertheless shaped by concepts familiar to any growing child: fear, trust, adaptation, the search for identity, the pressure to conform, the quest for independence, and the difference between right and wrong.
"No one who lived through the years of 1937 to 1948," Albright writes, "was a stranger to profound sadness. Millions of innocents did not survive, and their deaths must never be forgotten. Today we lack the power to reclaim lost lives, but we have a duty to learn all that we can about what happened and why." At once a deeply personal memoir and an incisive work of history, Prague Winter serves as a guide to the future through the lessons of the past—as seen through the eyes of one of the international community's most respected and fascinating figures.
About the Author
Madeleine Albright served as America’s sixty-fourth secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. Her distinguished career also included positions at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She was a resident of Washington D.C., and Virginia.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper; 1st edition (April 24, 2012)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062030310
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062030313
- Item Weight : 1.85 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #236,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,169 in Political Leader Biographies
- #2,569 in Women's Biographies
- #6,966 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Important information
To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.
About the author
Madeleine Albright is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Madam Secretary, The Mighty and the Almighty, Memo to the President, and Read My Pins. She was U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001. Her distinguished career of public service includes positions in the National Security Council, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and on Capitol Hill.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Albright who has access to her father's diplomatic papers gives very good descriptions of the major players in this drama. The larger than life founder of the republic; TG Masaryk is described as is Edvard Benes the Czech president in exile during WWII. Czechoslovakia was really the only true eastern European democracy after WWI. The republic was betrayed at Munich by the British and French when they ceded parts of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. Albright tells this story from the Czech viewpoint and it reads like a thriller. She also describes scenes and characters from the Czech resistance movement during the war who assassinated the Reich proctor, Reinhard Heydrich. Again the detail in this story is riveting. When the war ends the Czechoslovakia is again abandoned by the western allies and the Soviet Union adds Czechoslovakia to its group of satellite states in eastern Europe. In the immediate post war years Albright's father is a key player in the democratic government and is forced to leave the country after the Soviets murder Jan Marysk the pro western foreign minister. Albright examines all of the evidence about Masaryk's death and concludes as have most historians that he was murdered by the Soviets.
While the national events are interesting, Albright's family story is fascinating. As you might know, Albright found out in the 1990s that her heritage was Jewish and not Roman Catholic as she had thought. Her parents became Catholics in Britain during the war and never discussed with their children that decision. The family was not religious so I continue to be puzzled by this decision made in the relative safety of England in 1940. Albright seems as mystified by the decision as I was. Most of her extended family (grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles) was lost in the Holocaust. She discussed this in the book, and as with any story that puts faces on this horrific story it is quite moving. Her family experienced the Blitz in London and the post war events in Prague and in Belgrade where her father was ambassador. She details the leadership failings that allowed communism to rise in Czechoslovakia. The book ends the story in 1948 when the Korbels immigrate to the United States.
I was interested to read this book because I will attend an author event where Albright will speak about the story. Only in American could someone, a woman no less, come as an immigrant and end up as the secretary of state. Can't wait to hear her story first hand!
Therefore, it was probably more palatable to work with the Russians after the war than the west. Further, most Czechs were peasants. They were poor. The notion of communism offered a romantic ray of hope in a country impoverished by a depression and a war it did not want. I have been to Prague and Terezenstadt. The cities survived the war intact because there was very little bombing. It contained few essential resources for military needs so it was primarily spared.
However, I had hoped that Ms. Albright would examine her Jewish roots more meaningfully. Clearly her parents were secular Jews who even put up a Xmas tree b/c Xmas was a national holiday. Being Jewish in the diplomatic core could not have been easy. At the time our own state department had few if any Jews and was outwardly anti-semetic. So it would be understandable if Korbel, Albright's father tried to hide his Judaism. Further, he lost so many relatives in the holocaust merely because they were Jewish. One could forgive concealing one's Judaism in a future life for that reason alone. However, the author tells us none of these things. She also does a rather superficial investigation. It is true that most of her relatives including her three living grandparents perished under horrific conditions in the holocaust. However, her telling of their fate was a dry unemotional history. Under Jewish law her mother was Jewish and she is Jewish.
Since she is Jewish so are her children. Did she investigate the faith to see if she was drawn to it? Did she encourage her siblings or her children to learn about Judaism to see if the Jewish faith might be more fitting for them than Christianity. I don't think there was any encouragement in this direction. She claims that she has no material in her father's papers from which to draw any conclusions, because she didn't learn of the issue for 6 decades. However, her cousin , Dasa was alive. Surely she remembered Jewish rituals performed by her aunts. There is no explanation about any communication with Dasa over their Jewish history. Surely Dasa was aware that she was sent to live in England with her cousin Madeline and her aunt and uncle because the situation in Prague was becoming dangerous for Jews. She could not have believed herself to be catholic. Had she been catholic there would have been no reason to flee. I find the book lacking in this area. I'd like to see Ms. Albright study the religion, attend a few synagogue sermons and bible classes and consider her reaction. I suspect she is not a person of faith. However, her mother must have prepared typically Jewish dishes for the family when she was growing up. This is a cultural issue. Did her mother prepare the meat filled and boiled dumplings called "Kreplach"? How about the fruit filled cookies called "rugalach?" Did she ever make a matzoh ball? Gefilte fish? Did she make a beef short rib and cabbage soup called "cabbage borscht" without adding the sour cream? Non Jews often ate the soup with sour cream but Jews typically did not. Does she remember if her mother ever made a pork roast? If not doesn't she find that odd. Even if they ate it at the homes of others, did the family ever prepare it at home. I bet that other than during wartime shortages they didn't. In Britain during WWII everyone including Jews ate an American canned meat(pork) product called spam. During the blitz London survived on it. Since refrigeration could be sporadic, spam was the only "meat" available. So eating spam does not count in this evaluation. Often even though a family is not religious, festival foods are still lovingly remembered and prepared. Eating habits may not change though the religious ritual or reason for them has vanished. Now even non-Jews eat these dishes in Jewish style restaurants located in big cities all over the U.S. Yet Ms. Albright did not mention even one of these. Judaism values teaching and learning. It values the individual's right to self determination. Were any of her values traceable to her Jewish roots? She doesn't touch on this and we will never know.
Note: I have just learned that one of her daughters married into a Jewish family and that her youngest grandson is preparing for his bar mitzvah. I wish she had mentioned this in her book and described to what extent her daughter has either become Jewish or decided to raise her children Jewish.
I could not sleep for many nights after reading this book because of the poignant stories about people I came to know vicariously through this story. Yet the evil that did this did not prevail. It could not stop many distinquished Jewish people from rising to become loved and respected leaders; Madeline Korbel Albright became the Secretary of State here in the United States! Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it!