I liked the story very much. Hungarian born myself, I have known a few of those who left Hungary in the wake of the Revolution. However I never thought to ask them about their experiences. Why not I don't know, but I do remember a childhood friend of my mother's who had been in the fighting (having spent a few post war years coal mining in Siberia) looking at a picture of a 13 or 14 year old boy with a cigarette and a rifle and telling me about being one of the burial detail for the boy. There was great sadness in his voice but no other emotions on his part. But I felt a great sorrow and a little shame comparing myself to a kid little older than myself who had fought so bravely in such a noble cause. An aside my family reached U.S. in 1951. Back to the book I have some scepticism about his summary of Hungarian History, even knowing he is quoting an acknowledged history scholar. I have never heard that the Huns were direct ancestors of the Magyars. The Huns had settled along the Danube 500 years before Arpad led the Magyars into the Carpathian basin. They may have intermingled. Or maybe I am just putting my ignorance on parade. Anyway! When he gets to his being in Budapest and describing the events' I was completely swept along. The danger, the excitement, and the urgency of the Hungarians aspirations, and their disappointment at the lack of support from the Western powers comes alive in his writing. History from a first hand source. I found it very informative and well worth the reading. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It's not a blow by blow account of the Hungarian Uprising, but that was a good thing for me because I can find those sort of books a bit overwhelming. Michael Korda has a wonderful talent for summing up big historical events and periods in a pithy style which explains the situation perfectly and, at times, renders it even humorous. This is a personal account of the events he and his friends witnessed and it is written with warmth and insight. ( )

My copy of this book was a gift from my quasi-aunt, who is herself Hungarian and experienced at least part of the Revolution in 1956. I thought this particular book did a fairly poor job informing me of the wider historical context or even the actions that took place during the Revolution itself, but, after all, the word "Personal" is right there in the title. My main objection, overall, is that the book reads as if it was badly - or not at all - planned out. There was quite a bit of lead-up and then it seemed to end all at once. Weak structure, weak book. ( )

I picked this up at the library while planning our trip to Budapest. It was primarily the story of a few Oxford undergrads wandering around in the middle of a violent revolution. Somehow it reminded me of some of Connie Willis's time traveling characters. Korda did a fine job of recounting the state of affairs for anyone with a basic understanding of the events leading up to the Cold War, and a good job of explaining why the entire worlds' attention seemed to be focused elsewhere throughout the whole crackdown. I enjoyed the personal vignettes, even though the story was not an enjoyable one. ( )

"For those who survived, life goes on, and even looking back in time, for those of us who were there, the events of October and November 1956 seem remote now, something out of another age." (p 205)

Michael Korda is able to combine history and memoir in one package that at times reads like a novel, but at its heart is a very personal story of one man and his Hungarian heritage. The history is an inspiring story of the David versus Goliath battle that took place in Hungary in 1956. Korda was a student at Oxford who traveled to Budapest to bring help, medicine for hospitals, and to participate in one of the great moments in postwar European history. "The Hungarians stood up to the Soviet Union, bravely and alone; and although they lost, inevitably, they created a deep fissure in the monolith of communism" (p 204) that was omnipresent throughout Eastern Europe behind the "Iron Curtain."
Korda begins his story, after an introductory chapter, with an all too brief history of Hungary, a nation that was not unfamiliar with oppression by foreign rulers from the invasions of the Huns to the Empire of the Hapsburgs, but it had a proud culture. Its' recent history was one of decline throughout the twentieth century. The two world wars had been particularly harsh in the toll they took on the country's fortunes. I was impressed with the way Korda was able to transition from this history into his family's and ultimately his own position as a young man at Oxford - thus leading the reader into the main section of the book detailing the brutal details of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. His own adventures as an eyewitness add credibility to his account and his lucid and readable style make this a successful memoir and history. Reading this in combination with some of the literature produced by Hungarian writers added to my enjoyment of both the literature and the history. ( )