“[Garton Ash’s] own involvement in these events, intellectual and emotional, is of such intensity that he can speak…from the inside as well as from the outside. Yet the sense of historic dimension…is never lost. And the quality of the writing places it clearly in the category of good literature.” — George Kennan
“Along with the historian’s long view, Gatton Ash has an eye and an ear for the telling detail.” — Washington Past Book World