I WAS BORN AT THE
BEGINNING OF IT ALL,ON
THE RED SIDE—THE
COMMUNIST SIDE—OF THE
IRON CURTAIN.

PETER SÍS draws us into the world that shaped him—Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. World War II had ended, and the Germans had left, but Czechoslovakia was still an occupied country, this time by the Russians. As tensions between Eastern Europe and the free world intensified, borders to the West were fortified with fences and walls—the Iron Curtain had descended. Behind it were many people who wanted to be free. And as Peter grows up, he becomes one of them.

He tells his story in pictures and memories, from a happy childhood to adolescence, when news from the West slowly filters into the country. Peter and his friends hear about blue jeans, Coca-Cola, beat poetry, rock 'n' roll . . . and the Beatles! We feel the pull of the free world's forbidden fruits and sense the excitement as barriers are lifted. It's the Prague Spring of 1968, and life is sweet. Then we watch in horror as the Soviets reassert totalitarian control, and we understand Peter's wish to be free.

In remarkable drawings and diaries, Peter Sís has brought memory and history together to take us on this extraordinary journey behind the Iron Curtain.

From the dust jacket