Free: coming of age at the end of history
Join us as Lea Ypi discusses her memoir and her experiences growing up in Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe during the fall of communism in 1990.
Join us as Lea Ypi discusses her memoir and her experiences growing up in Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe during the fall of communism in 1990.
Monday 1 November 2021 | 1 hour 31 minutes 9 seconds
With the the statues of Stalin and Hoxha were topple, almost overnight, people could vote and worship freely, and invest in hopes of striking it rich. But factories shut, jobs disappeared, and thousands fled to Italy, only to be sent back.
Pyramid schemes bankrupted the country, leading to violence. One generation’s dreams became another’s disillusionment. As her own family’s secrets were revealed, Ypi found herself questioning what "freedom" really means. With acute insight and wit, Ypi traces the perils of ideology, and what people need to flourish.