Young Men Go West - Hardback

A signed copy of Young Men Go West by Dawn-Eve Mertz

These "first edition" copies do have some formatting errors in them, so I have dropped the price to get them sold! If you get the book on Amazon it has been updated, but these copies have already been printed--oops!

Book Description:
On October 23, 1956, 200,000 people took to the streets of Budapest in a relatively unplanned demonstration to protest the oppressive communist regime that the Soviets had imposed upon them. Then, the secret police began killing the unarmed student protestors and thousands of teenagers and young citizens turned into freedom fighters overnight. For almost three weeks, Hungarians waged guerilla warfare against the Soviets and secret police; they fought bravely, even when they knew they didn’t have a chance.

Over 190,000 people fled Hungary after the revolution, including the author’s grandfather, Joseph, who was 16 when he escaped. He and his brother fled on foot but the Soviets caught them near the border, they were separated and had to go on without each other. The Hungarian refugee crisis of 1956/1957 was an extraordinary exhibition of the power of the international community that has never been replicated.

Young Men Go West is a blended narrative nonfiction of Joseph's escape, and a historical nonfiction of the Hungarian Revolution. His story is one of both fear and optimism; and the collective story of the Hungarians’ plight for freedom is one of loathing for the Soviets and of their courage in the fight for sovereignty.