The wall : Growing up behind the iron curtain

Peter Sís draws us into the world that shaped him – Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Behind the Iron Curtain 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. English translation of the enlarged (czech) edition.