Been meaning to get around to reading this interesting book:-
Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain:
The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
Anne Applebaum’s “Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956,” sheds much light on a dark period, when the brutal Nazi occupation ended in Eastern Europe, only to be replaced by slightly less brutal communist rule. Although Applebaum covers the whole of Eastern Europe – the so-called “Eastern block,” those countries outside the Soviet Union that became communist – she concentrates during this 12-year period on Poland, Hungary and East Germany, which she has chosen “not because they were similar but because they were so different” (p.xxxii). There are also occasional references to Czechoslovakia, Tito’s Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria and Romania. Despite differences between countries, Applebaum highlights striking similarities among them and thereby provides an incisive overview of the gloomy and oppressive totalitarianism that prevailed across Eastern Europe during the period she covers.
Writing for general readers and…
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penwithlit 
2 replies on “Totally Gloomy”
Thank you very much for reblogging my review of Applebaum’s book. I hope it generates interest with your readers. My next review, coming out (hopefully, knock on wood) sometime next week, is Keith Lowe’s “Savage Continent,” which complements and supplements Applebaum’s book, looking at the whole of Europe, rather than just Eastern Europe, for about half of Appelbaum’s time frame, roughly 1944 to 1949. Readers who enjoyed Applebaum’s book, or reviews of it, are likely to be attracted to Lowe’s work. Again, thanks for the free publicity, Tom Peebles
A fascinating review. So much emerging about this period just now. Many thanks Tom.