In the early 1990s, Albania, arguably Europe-s most closed and repressive state, began a startling transition out of forty years of self-imposed Communist isolation. Albanians who were not allowed to practice religion, travel abroad, wear jeans, or read -decadent- Western literature began to devour the outside world. They opened caf- companies, and newspapers. Previously banned rock music blared in the streets.
Modern Albania offers a vivid history of the Albanian Communist regime-s fall and the trials and tribulations that led the country to become the state it is today. The book provides an in-depth look at the Communists'' last Politburo meetings and the first student revolts, the fall of the Stalinist regime, the outflows of refugees, the crash of the massive pyramid-loan schemes, the war in neighboring Kosovo, and Albania-s relationship with the United States. Fred Abrahams weaves together personal experience from more than twenty years of work in Albania, interviews with
