by Tom Fort
In time I learned that others detected more than a whiff of double standards in my nostalgia for the past they had left behind. I learned to accept that the faraway places were no longer so faraway, that their distinctiveness, the ‘otherness’ that had made them so attractive, had gone and would not return. They were hard but necessary lessons.
I am in debt to a good many people for this book. I am grateful to my first wife, Linda, for making it possible for me to be away from home and children in 1990, to Michael Green, whose extraordinary generosity saved me from penury, to Clare Alexander, who encouraged me to write the book that never was, and to Max Wilkinson of the Financial Times for his support. Much later Mark Booth, then of Century, had the faith to commission me, Charlotte Haycock provided essential editorial scrutiny, and Katie Duce took up the reins and brought the lumbering beast to the finish. My incomparable agent, Caroline Dawnay, made it all happen. My dear friend, Stephen Taylor, was an unfailing source of cheer, support and sound advice. Jason Hawkes gave me essential help with the photographs. Friends and acquaintances in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania made the book what it is. I thank Leszek and Isa Trojanowski, Jurek Kowalski, Andrzej Fox, Józef and Dorothy Jeleński, Marek Kowalski, Marek Kot, Tomáš Kroupa, Pavel Janicek, Peter Bienek, Gábor and Márta Hegedüs, and Grigore Lungu. I wish I was able to thank Dana Lungu and Janusz Wanicki.
Finally, I could not have done any of it without Helen.
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Published in the United Kingdom by Arrow Books in 2011
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Copyright © Tom Fort 2010
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First published in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Century
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ISBN 9780099533429