The Taste of Ashes

" Part-memoir, part-intellectual history, Shore’s book follows her journey into the heart of the Polish and Czech intelligentsia, exploring their reactions to and involvement in the Holocaust, the purges and the revolutions that dominate 20th century Eastern European history…. poignant and thought-provoking."

[Shore's] kaleidoscope book of reminiscences and encounters gives an authentic feel to the difficulties that outsiders often have in making sense of this intricate history.Ms Shore.does an excellent job of bringing to life the still rancorous relations between Jews of rival persuasions. The Economist The Taste of Ashes is about more than the floodwaters of history; it's the story of those who learned to swim, those who didn't, and those still adapting to an era of accelerated change. This is a brilliant, lyrical and gripping book, one woven from stories that will linger in the minds of readers for years to come. -- Ian Bremmer With a deep respect for what the historian can and cannot know and what the witness can and cannot share, Marci Shore has achieved something rare: a narrative history that is also a philosophy of history. Her subject is Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Holocaust and Stalinism, but her stories of people and places - tragic, ironic, carnivalesque - have a universal appeal. -- Alice Kaplan Her fine book is a very personal account of the people that she came to know in eastern Europe after the end of Soviet domination in 1989. The novelty of Shore's approach lies in her focus on the families of Poland's Stalinists. -- Stefan Wagstyl Financial Times Part-memoir, part-intellectual history, Shore's book follows her journey into the heart of the Polish and Czech intelligentsia, exploring their reactions to and involvement in the Holocaust, the purges and the revolutions that dominate 20th century Eastern European history..poignant and thought-provoking. Sunday Times