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Dancing Bears

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Dancing Bears

Written by: Witold Szabłowski, Antonia Lloyd-Jones - translator, Claire Bloom - director
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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About this listen

For hundreds of years, Bulgarian Gypsies trained bears to dance, welcoming them into their families and taking them on the road to perform. In the early 2000s, with the fall of Communism, they were forced to release the bears into a wildlife refuge. But even today, whenever the bears see a human, they still get up on their hind legs to dance.

In the tradition of Ryszard Kapuściński, award-winning Polish journalist, Witold Szabłowski uncovers remarkable stories of people throughout Eastern Europe and in Cuba who, like Bulgaria’s dancing bears, are now free but who seem nostalgic for the time when they were not. His on-the-ground accounts provide a fascinating portrait of social and economic upheaval and a lesson in the challenges of freedom and the seductions of authoritarian rule.

©2018 Witold Szabłowski, Antonia Lloyd-Jones (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Freedom & Security Ideologies & Doctrines Political Science Russia Eastern Europe Imperialism
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Profile Image for Roberta W

Very insightful

The story of the dancing bears both saddens me and stimulated my curiosity. I’m glad they don’t do it anymore.
The broader context of the book is nostalgia for life under Communism, which I found quite enlightening. Lots of cities visited, with timely learnings about Ukraine and Soviet rule.
Well written, I’d recommend it.

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Profile Image for Anonymous User

Thought provoking

Love this book - the tradition of performing bears is interesting yet tragic. I love the journalist’s style of portraying different perspectives by using people’s own words. It begs the question though if it is really so pessimistic that people who had been enslaved cannot really appreciate freedom!

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