Molotov Cocktails

Book excerpt: Hungary, 1956. The height of the Cold war. Three years after the death of Stalin, and the satellite states of the Soviet Union are at flashpoint. Budapest is the place where it will explode. Weaving together interviews with Australians and others who were there, Anna Mandoki takes us on an exhilarating journey through the events of October and November 1956. She tells powerful stories of student demonstrations, the toppling of Stalin's statue, fierce street fighting against Soviet tanks, and daring escapes. She looks at how the politics spilled over into Melbourne's Olympic Games, and examines the reactions of the West. And she visits Budapest fifty years on, to see how things have changed.