Fin de millénaire Budapest

the long version

"With the collapse of state socialism, the people of Budapest are re-arranging their points of reference as the cityscape's familiar signposts disappear. Through Budapest's example, Judit Bodnar shows how the postsocialist experience of east-central European cities offers a fresh and instructive view of our general farewell to modernity.". "Fin de Millenaire Budapest combines historical narratives and ethnographic accounts with quantitative evidence to create a detailed picture of a city subjected to the forces of great local and global change. In the privatizing of public space, the decline of manufacturing, the rapid growth of services, and the opening of opportunities for entrepreneurs, Bodnar captures global urban patterns - with a distinct, central European accent. In particular, she shows tensions between the liberating and fragmenting effects of the increasingly private use of urban space and some ways in which the new urban patterns both resemble and transcend cultural patterns from Budapest's socialist past."--BOOK JACKET.