Book Launch — Have the Mountains Fallen? Two Journeys of Loss and Redemption in the Cold War
Open Society Foundations and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
invite you to a launch event for the new book
Have the Mountains Fallen? Two Journeys of Loss and Redemption in the Cold War
After surviving the blitzkrieg of World War II and escaping from Nazi prison camps, Soviet soldier Azamat Altay fled to the West. He was charged as a traitor in his homeland in Soviet Central Asia. Chingiz Aitmatov became a hero of Soviet Kyrgyzstan, propelled by family loss to write novels about the everyday lives of his fellow citizens.
Altay became a voice of democracy on Radio Liberty, broadcasting back into his shuttered homeland, while Aitmatov rose through the ranks of Soviet society. Yet just as they seemed to be pulled apart by the divisions of the Cold War, they found their lives intersecting in compelling ways, joined by a common mission to save their people. Through narratives of loss, love, and longing for a homeland forever changed, a clearer picture emerges of the struggle for freedom inside the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
This launch event includes a discussion with author Jeffrey B. Lilley, and representatives of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, on the book’s implications for modern Central Asia.
Speakers:
- Jeffrey B. Lilley currently leads a British-funded parliamentary support program in Kyrgyzstan. He is the coauthor of China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage and Diplomacy.
- Muhammad Tahir is Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s media relations manager for Asian affairs in Washington, D.C., and is host of its weekly Central Asia and South Asia podcasts, Majlis and Gandhara.
- Venera Djumataeva is the director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz Service.
- Alex Johnson (moderator) is the senior policy advisor for Europe and Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations.
Light refreshments will be served.
