The Compelling True Story of a Brave - Embattled People

The book, written in 1957, is based on an important number of discussions with refugees who were fleeing Hungary, after the anti-communist revolution against communism was crushed by the Soviet tanks. The presentation of the events of the revolution is vivid and realistic, as long as it does is limited to facts and does not attempt to explain what happened in Hungary in 1956. Because besides the presentation of the events, the book about the Bridge at Andau sadly demonstrates the inability of a writer to understand what was really going on, even though he was living in the part of the world where the events took place. Therefore the image of Hungary in 1956 is extremely misleading.

The book presents the revolution as mainly directed against the Soviet occupation. In reality it was a rising against the communist regime, which had been installed in Hungary, as a consequence of the division of Europe, agreed upon in the Yalta accords. The presentation of the Hungarian secret police, the AVO, as supporting the Russian occupation is false. The truth is that the secret police, as a repression organism of any dictatorial regime, was created by the Hungarian communist party and was subordinated to the Hungarian authorities. The leadership of the communist party was not only totally informed about the excesses of the AVO, many described in the book, but even directed the AVO to carry them out. The book incorrectly seems to attempt to put all the blame on the secret police and not on the communist regime. This is only an example of the impossibility of the author to understand what was going on in Hungary.
The book however, presents the conclusions of the Hungarian revolution, not so much in proving that neither the communists nor the Soviets were willing to give up their rule of Hungary and thus were perceived by the world as an oppressive regime. The communist parties in some European countries, such as France or Italy, continued to flourish even after 1956. The main conclusion is indicated in the book in the form of the sad conclusions drawn by a Hungarian refugee, which the author presents:
“Do you know why Hungarians like me are so bitter against the United States. Fr six years you fed us this propaganda. For six years the Russians trampled us in the mud. But when we rose in rebellion for the very things you told us to fight for, how many Americans stepped forth to help us? Not one? Who did join our side? Russian troops. How many American tanks helped us? Not one. This is a terrible indictment.
“Bu what drove us almost to desperation was not your failure to support us with materiel. It was your failure to speak up boldly on our behalf. My nation died in silence. Could not one clear voice in America have spoken forth in late October? Mr. Bulganin spoke out about Suez, and England and France retreated. There was a ten-day pause in our revolution when one daring American voice might have made Bulganin retreat. But it never came. There was silence along the Danube and in the United Nations. Days later, when only the dead could hear, America finally spoke. It was a message of condolence.”

This conclusion reverberated along all oppressed nations under communist domination and practically eliminated any other attempts in the communist world to revolt against the oppression. And the book “The Bridge in Andau” is important just for highlighting this conclusion of the Hungarian revolution which is too often forgotten.

I read this over 20 years ago and recently when a friend returned from a trip to Budapest, decided to read it again. To learn first-hand accounts of people fighting the Soviet army during the invasion of Hungary give s a unique perspective on what they have undergone - and the consequent suffering they endured. Michener does this very succinctly, proving harrowing accounts of different people resisting the Soviet occupation, subsequently leading to a mass exodus across the eponymous bridge and possible freedom in Austria. The Soviets destroyed the original bridge at Andau when they learned of the exodus. After Communism's fall, it was rebuilt and now serves as a symbol of goodwill between the two countries.

The Bridge at Andau is unique for Michener because it doesn't have the smooth flow of his other epic stories. True and compelling? Absolutely, but a little hard to follow, happy I read it, but not one I couldn't put down

You will not want to put it down. An accurate portrayal of the Hungarian revolution in 1956 and life under communist tyranny. A must read for anyone who was alive at that time and has an interest in what it was like enduring the Russian invasion.

Well, it IS Michener. A Hungarian friend called it propaganda for popularization of a "friendly" revolt. In fact, there were no "good guys" only incredible violence on both sides - for what I could never determine.

Having read Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, The Carribean . . . I was ready for yet another good Michener read. I was so disappointed. I gave this one star because it does stand as a period piece, reflecting the anger of the age and, as such, maybe I haven't totally wasted my reading time. Capitalism good; Communism bad. Okay, we get it. Where are the stories? The humanity? The few stories that are here are so disjointed, continually broken up by the political ranting. There isn't enough connection with the people in this story. I understand that many he interviewed were unwilling to give much information, but Michener was able to flesh out characters with fiction before. I would sum up by saying that a great opportunity to showcase Hungary during this era has just been lost to political ranting.

In 1956, my family was living in northern Italy. I remember my mother packed a suitcase, which was left by the front door, ready to be grabbed in case the consulate called to tell us to leave, as we lived in an area with a strong Communist presence. Perhaps that's why I picked up this book when I was a teenager. I remember being deeply moved by Michener's stories of the Hungarians who fled for their lives. Last year, many decades afterwards, I met a woman on a tour of Switzerland. Although American now, she had fled Hungary with her parents during the brief period when it was possible to get out. My mind raced back to this book, which she had never heard of, even though she remembered walking across a bridge. Her family was probably too busy making new lives for themselves to bother with a book written in English about what they had left behind. This book makes a deep impact and I can attest it's impossible to forget. And the people who escaped are still out there. You too may meet one some day.

Lucky me! I picked this book up at a thrift store for $1.00. I had never heard of the book or the history told here but the book was fantastic! This book should be required reading for everyone in school so they know what horrible Socialism/Communism/fascism does to the common man. Thanks God we live in America. Vote for those who will preserve Capitalism and the American Constitution and Bill of Rights so nothing like this ever happens here....because it absolutely could!

I recently went to Budapest and Prague on a vacation. To learn a little about Hungarian history, I picked up The Bridge at Andau. Michener consolidated several personalities into each of his characters as he tells the true the story of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. The book was written immediately after his time in Hungary and published in 1957. Michener has many "soapbox" monologues as he attempts to predict the downfall of Red Communism - Russian Communism in particular. His analysis is remarkably accurate as history has come to pass judgment on the Russian held satellite countries and their flights to freedom.

Told from the points of views of several different dissident groups, Michener weaves a story of disappointment and exasperation that leads to the 1956 revolution. Lies, lies and more lies were heaped upon the Hungarian people until it boiled it over into a full blown revolution. Every group of Communist broke ranks and joined with the Hungarian people except the AVO (secret police force). Workers, students, Communist loyalists and even Hungarians in the Russian Armed Forces moved towards freedom.

It was an interesting read even though this is certainly not Michener's best writing. The story begins to get redundant as Michener begins his commentary on the fall of Communism. Having just been in Hungary, it was fascinating to match up what we saw to the recent history told through Michener. There is a repression that is still felt as you travel the city of Budapest. There are remnants of the Soviet Powers everywhere you visit. And my wife noted that we were in the minority as mid-fifty year olds as most of the population seemed to be young or old with little in the middle aged group. These are the people that escaped in late 50's and through the next couple of decades waiting for the Wall to fall.

I recommend this book to anyone that is interested in Central European history and how a strong-willed people in a bottled-in country took on one of the greatest armies of its time and put them on their heels. The Revolution set the tone for the conciliatory years and the out-right liberty through independence. And to Michener's credit, he captures much of the drama with a personal touch.

The Bridge at Andau by James Michener tells the true story of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. A popular historian and novelist, Michener's account of the Hungarian uprising awakens the reader to the shocking plight of millions who suffered the iron fist of communism and Soviet puppet leadership. The revolution was a rebellion of students and intellectuals directed against the Soviet occupation and communism in Hungary. Viewing the revolution as a threat, the Soviet Union mercilessly sent tanks into the city center of Budapest violently extinguishing the uprise. The Soviet destruction of a magnificent city left Budapest and the Hungarian people in ruin.

Interviewing those who escaped Soviet repression in Hungary, Michener traveled to the city of Andau at Austrian-Hungarian border putting the courageous stories on record. The bridge at Andau was an escape route and path to freedom for Hungarian refugees fleeing across the border into Austria. For several weeks, Michener hovered at the border village of Andau as beaten Hungarians limped and staggered away from Soviet terror. Michener writes in detail about the domineering relationship between the Soviet Union and its satellite communist states. What was the catalyst that sparked the revolution and why did over two hundred thousand Hungarians cross the border and obtain freedom from Soviet domination?

Arranged into a series of interconnected stories, The Bridge at Andau revolves around young students, intellectuals, and reformed communist political leaders. The novel opens on Tuesday evening, October 23, 1956, on "a day which the world will be slow to forget" (Michener, 1). Attracting thousands of protesters marching through central Budapest, the revolution began as students demonstrated in the streets calling out over Radio Free Europe shouting, "Out with the Russians! Out with the Russians!" (Michener, 17). Starting as a collection of students seeking to end repeated changes to their curriculum, the revolution quickly became a five-day rebellion of the Hungarian people. The protesters no longer sought educational reforms but wanted drastic change within the government. Reformers called for sixteen demands. The major objectives were Soviet troop withdrawal from Hungary, improved economic and living conditions, free elections, and the formation of a multi-party system.

To gain control over the Hungarians, the Soviets infiltrated every aspect of the their lives. Some were Soviets sent from Moscow; however, many were locals promised special advantages if they would be the eyes and ears of the Soviet authority informing on their fellow workers and neighbors. "Certain members of the party get all the rewards of society - the good apartments, the good radios, the good food, the best clothing," while the rest of the people starve (Michener, 14). Neighbors and friends were scared to talk to each other about the Soviet infiltration in fear of who might be listening and reporting back to Soviet officials. Living in perpetual fear, people sought change and wanted freedom. How did the Soviets structure of communism push many Hungarians, especially men, into positions within the government that they knew went against their best interests?

The Soviets shaped young men to into communist leaders through constant bribes building a trusted inner core of elite communist leaders. The Soviets gave the young men power and promised a better life. These promises were so vast and unrealistic that it was impossible to obtain them. The false sense of hope drove young men into the communist party even though they knew the expectations could not be attained. Young men had little or no options other than to assimilate into the communist party. Anyone who openly opposed the Soviets were sent to violent torture camps in Siberia and never heard from again. Silencing the opposition ensured that the best of the best became communist leaders in Soviet satellite states.

Michener keeps the book moving at a fast-pace recounting what life was like for those living in Hungary under Soviet communism. Communism promised, "consumer goods such as they had never known before, increased wages, increased social benefits, shorter hours of work, improved education for everyone, a greater social freedom, and a government directly responsible to the working class" (Michener, 116). With such a long list of promises, it is easy to see how the Soviets enticed the Hungarians into a false sense of possibilities. After two years of communism, the Hungarians realized the promises would never materialize and were living in continuous fear.

Using the AVO, the brutal Hungarian secret police, the Soviets promoted terror and instilled fear in the Hungarians. Paid more than workers in the factories and given power over the people, the AVO routinely terrorized the Hungarian citizens. Strictly enforcing rules and regulations, the feared AVO police unleashed a reign of terror across Hungary. People were afraid of speaking out against the Soviets and many families went behind closed doors to educate their children about the harsh reality of communism.

One of the most heart wrenching parts of the novel deals with the Hungarian children. Michener breaks this down across multiple chapters and is a continuous theme throughout the novel. The first has to do with children that were involved in fighting against the Soviets and the second deals with education of young children. Many adults used children in guerrilla warfare since they were small and agile. Unseen, children would scurry out into the streets and place brown dinner plates upside down. From inside a Soviet tank, these plates looked like mines. When the tankers stopped, children would sneak up and drop a homemade Molotov cocktail into the tanks engine. Repeated attacks against Soviet tanks sent the Soviet's into a temporary retreat. This demonstrates the lengths to which the Hungarians fought to save their country. The fight for Hungry involved everyone. The Hungarians fought for their country from the inside out hoping to push the Soviets back reclaiming their country.

Dedicating two chapters about the education of the Hungarian children, Michener describes the lengths that the Soviet infiltrated the schools and how families counteracted the Soviet educational system. Inside Hungarian classrooms hung portraits of communist leaders. Marx, Lenin, and Stalin were the most popular and teachers emphasized the glory of communism. At home, parents taught their children Hungarian history, culture, poetry, and religious values. Parents put themselves and their children at serious risk from interrogation by the AVO. There was a constant battle between what was taught in school and what was learned at home. It was gripping to read how parents counteracted what was taught in the school system. The Soviets used education as a tool to push the communist agenda while at home parents taught their children what it was like to be a Hungarian.

One particular moving story dealt with a little boy who was turning six years old. The boy's father proudly dressed his "son in full national costume with an armband so big it could be spotted a block away" (Michener, 166). The boy was spotted by a policeman and sent home to change. When the boy asked the officer where his national colors were, the policeman replied, "I wear them in my heart" (Michener, 166). This sense of national pride was necessary to the Hungarians and demonstrates why so many people were willing to die for freedom.

Throughout the novel, Michener provides a humanistic quality of the Hungarian people while depicting historical events in an interesting narrative. Reading this I could picture young children participating in the fight for their country and students rioting in the streets for freedom. His argument that Soviet communism ate away at the fabric of society and ultimately turned on its self is compelling. The tipping point, the student rebellion, gathered momentum and eventually Hungarians saw their right to fight for freedom. The Hungarians had had enough of Soviet occupation and the reign of terror unleashed by the AVO. The countless stories of children and teenagers building their own weapons shows the reader how dear freedom was to the Hungarians. Prior to attacking the Soviets, one college student said to another, "We will die here today" (Michener, 71). There was not a single story were the Hungarian fighters felt they would make it out alive. Michener shows the reader how dear freedom was to the Hungarians and that they would die to gain freedom.

Michener exposes the reader to the hardships the Hungarians dealt with on a daily basis. What many American's take for granted were luxuries by the Hungarians. For example, the black-market was the only place women could get makeup. "Five or six girls would band together to buy one black-market lipstick and one flat cake of rouge" (Michener, 48). If a girl wanted to go out with a specific boy, and wanted to look nice, she would have to borrow the makeup the girls shared. It was a luxury to go on a date four times a year. One particular woman, Mrs. Pal, was married but she still enjoyed a night out with her husband. In the words of Mrs. Pal, "I looked pretty twice a year" (Michener, 49).

Purchasing a suit for her husband was also a challenge. Many times Hungarian men would wear the same clothes for several weeks and save for six months to purchase a new suit that was often previously worn by a Soviet and sold at an exorbitant price in a Soviet owned store. While saving for a suit, Mr. Pal was unable to take his wife out to the movies, go dancing, purchase records, or books. This is just one of several examples of the hardships Hungarians faced on a daily basis. Hungarians rationed their funds saving for items most Americans do not think twice about purchasing.

Michener goes into great detail of the brutality of the Soviets against the Hungarians. From my knowledge of Eastern European history, I was aware of how bad the Soviet Union was. I knew that communism was evil and that the Soviets had murdered a lot of people while forcing their communistic agenda across Eastern Europe; however, it was not until I read this book did I realize just how evil and brutal the Soviet Union was. Michener composed his book from over hundreds of the 200,000 people that escaped across the Hungarian border into Austria over the bridge at Andau. Michener is very careful to backup everything he says and to substantiate the historical evidence he puts forth in the book. This is a really shocking book and a must read for anyone how loves freedom, liberty, and cares about human rights.

As the novel progresses, Michener describes the whole story about the revolution, and one of the most amazing aspects of the novel was the detail Michener writes about how the Hungarians fought against the Soviets. It was incredible reading how the Hungarians fought with virally no weapons and without military training were able to destroy hundreds and hundreds of Soviet tanks with homemade weapons. Fighting for their country, a vast majority of these tanks were destroyed by young people seeking freedom from Soviet repression. The Bridge at Andau is an amazing story of heroism and courage.

Traveling to Budapest three times, I gained a different perspective on the places I visited after reading the novel. At times, the narrative might seem disjointed as Michener jumps between perspectives, but after reading the novel, I saw the bigger picture. I understand the price the Hungarian people had to pay to gain their freedom from Soviet communist rule. Telling the story from various points of view provides the reader with a complete perspective without bogging down into too much historical detail. Each chapter builds upon the previous allowing the narrative to mesh together in one of the final chapters, appropriately named, The Bridge to Andau.

The Bridge at Andau is a powerful read for those of us living in a free society. This is not just a story about Soviet-occupied Hungary, but all countries occupied by the Soviets after World War II. This is a story of collective desire for hope and freedom. The actual bridge at Andau is a small wooden footbridge the width of two people. Under the bridge is a shallow river and the water would come up to the top of an adults shoulder. Crossing the bridge at Andau represents the struggle the Hungarians went through to obtain freedom "and if a Hungarian could reach that bridge, he was nearly free ... [and] by accident of history it became, for a few flaming weeks, one of the most important bridges in the world" (Michener, 173). In contrast to what I had originally thought when selecting the book, many of the Hungarian refugees were young people with a purpose. The average age was around twenty-three. The evacuees were students from the best universities, intellectuals, professional football players, accomplished artists, and skilled engineers and scientists. Hungary was losing the elite of their nation at an astonishing rate. The Bridge at Andau is filled with vivid accounts of people fighting for their freedom. Michener gives an accurate account of what life was like under a totalitarian regime recounting stories from ordinary people. Infringements on people's freedoms are very real, and The Bridge at Andau highlights the motivations of why people fought back against Soviet communism giving a country hope for a better future.

James Michener was amply qualified to write this book - a seasoned journalist, established writer and above all else, informed eyewitness to the individual suffering and sacrifice the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 occasioned. This is a very angry book, written in haste to give the world a first hand account of how ordinary Hungarians through acts of extraordinary bravery exposed the brutal realities of life under Soviet rule. It isn't an easy read, the narrative does not flow all that well, the context is only partially sketched and a lot of the stories are harrowing and heart breaking. One senses that this wasn't only because Michener was working to very tight deadlines in his determination to get the stories told quickly, it was also due to a larger, personal struggle between Michener the professional and his craft's commitment to detached, objective writing and Michener the outraged humanist drawn to participate in the fight against injustice. He isn't always able to keep his own emotions in check and there are times when he can only describe Russian brutality with bitter irony which does jar in his otherwise powerful account. In the book's concluding chapters the reader begins to understand the depth of his feeling when he recounts his own experiences, standing at the bridge at Andau watching (and on occasion crossing the line to assist) desperate refugees risking all in their flight to freedom.

For all his anger, Michener never loses perspective and his abiding message is one of hope. History has confirmed his forecast that the yearning for liberty which motivated the Hungarians would ultimately overthrow the Soviet system. Others have subsequently written more measured assessments of the Hungarians' brave revolt and with the passage of time we can understand more of what happened and why, but If you want to feel a little bit of what it was really like for the people on the streets of Budapest and concerned journalists watching the tragedy from the Austrian border, read this book.

This book is about the Hungarian revolution of late 1956. It is based on information the author got from refugees escaping the re-imposition of Communist rule. (The book takes its title from a bridge on the Austrian border which was the end of a favored escape route.)

Much of the book is a fast-paced recounting of how the revolution started and how it was fought. The fighting, against Russian tanks, was mostly done by people using improvised weapons such as bottles filled with gasoline, or even bricks. (They managed to destroy hundreds of tanks with weapons like these and an occasional captured anti-tank gun.) It was a desperate fight, yet the uprising was practically spontaneous.

Why would people fight so desperately? The author does a good job of answering this question by describing what life was like under the Communists. Constant lying propaganda. Never knowing who was a member of the AVO, the hated secret police. Having to teach your children the truth, in secret, and at great risk. Torture and murder carried out by the AVO. These people had no theoretical knowledge of why Communism had to fail; they instead had ample concretes that showed them, every day, why it was so evil.

In fact, it's interesting to note that many of the people who fought so hard against Communist rule were the very people who are supposed to be favored by Communism: workers, students, young intellectuals. The author makes the point also that 85 of 100 tanks burned up by the revolutionaries were destroyed by people under 21: people who were too young to have any experience of a better pre-Communist (and pre-Nazi) existence. Yet they were willing to risk their lives to fight a system they hated.

In short, the Hungarian revolution was a spontaneous uprising of hatred against Communism. Interestingly, even some of the Russian troops stationed in Hungary at the start of the revolution ended up aiding it. This particular scene, one I'll never forget reading, comes to mind:

"...an AVO sharpshooter ... fired a single shot into the crowd.

With fantastic ill luck, this bullet hit a baby in the arms of its mother and knocked both the dead child and the mother onto the pavement. In wild grief she raised the baby high in her arms and rushed toward a Soviet tank. "You have killed my child. Kill me." Her anguished protest was drowned by the sound of AVO guns firing more shots into the crowd.

It is absolutely verified that the tank captain, who had grown to like the Hungarians, raised his cap to the distraught woman and then turned to wipe the tears from his eyes. What he did next made a general battle in Budapest inevitable, for he grimly directed his tank guns against the roof of the Supreme Court building, and with a shattering rain of bullets erased the AVO crew stationed there. Now even the Russians were fighting the AVO men."

What kind of men are in the secret police of a totalitarian regime? Michener answers this by providing a picture of nihilistic losers in the AVO. And yet these men, who contributed nothing but terror, were much better paid than ordinary workers who built things in factories.

I read The Bridge at Andau 40 years ago, but it is so filled with vivid scenes of people fighting for their freedom that I still remember it well. Growing up, this book was the best concretization I had of what a totalitarian regime was like. At times the book is hard to put down. At other times, it's painful to read.

It also, for me, raised other questions. Why did America do nothing to help? And why in the 1960's, confronted with this and many other stories of the brutality of Communism, did so many of the American "New Left" embrace that horrid ideology, or lamely shrug with moral indifference? (There is truly no way the New Left can be forgiven for this, and history will not be kind to them.)

But more than anything, The Bridge at Andau is a story of how so many seemingly ordinary people, when faced with evil and given half a chance to fight it, rose up and did so. In their actions, they are anything but ordinary, and their story should not be forgotten.

Michener is one of the great historians of the 20th century. Not only is his research vast and impeccable, but Michener is able to translate his research into a wonderfully readable book. The Bridge at Andau is no exception.
In the mid-1950's Michener was living in Austria, along the border with Hungary. From this unique vantage point, he was able to observe the large exodus of Hungarians fleeing their communist nation. His observations and discussions with these refugees brought many aspects of the communist regime to light.
He was able to bring the reader into a communist state and to reveal its inner workings, including how the government controlled the masses. At the time, this was no easy task, as the Iron Curtain was nearly impenetrable to Westerners. Nevertheless, Michener was able to piece together countless interviews with these refugees and create an accurate picture of life under the red flag.
He discussed nearly every facet of the politics of the Hungarian people. He told of intellectuals beginning their theoretical revolution, and he told of the students who were the first to pick up arms against the police forces and Soviet army. Michener also spoke of the workers, the bones of communism, and how they turned their back on the system and tried to destroy it.
Unfortunately, the revolution failed and the Hungarians were forced to flee or face dire repercussions. And Michener was there to chronicle their tales.
The Bridge at Andau is a fascinating book and a document of Cold War history. It is definitely worth reading.

This is an older book but has good context with changes in the middle east.
Bought the book used, supposed to be in good condition but it was an old library book with broken spine and pages falling out

When I first read about teenage children disabling tanks and killing the occupants with rocks, clubs and bottles filled with gasoline, I thought the Marines could learn a lot from these children. Their communication, teamwork and overwhelming dedication amazed me.
I read about a 12-year-old boy who strapped a half-dozen grenades to his body, pulled a wire to pull all the pins and stepped in front of the tracks of a tank. After the tank ran him over and killed him, the grenades went off, derailing the tracks and disabling the tank, so that other children could throw gasoline bottles inside the turret to kill the drivers. I realized then this was not military mastery, but desperation spawned from people who had nothing left to live for.
"It should not have happened," said the minister who told the story of the 12-year-old boy. "Somebody should have stopped such a child. But he knew what he was fighting against."
"The Bridge at Andau," by James Albert Michener, is based on interviews with survivors of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against communist Soviet occupation. Written in 1957, the book was checked out of the Depot library five times during the late 50s and early 60s. From then on, it has silently gathered dust on the shelf. Within three years after the uprising, interest in the estimated 40,000 to 80,000 Hungarians slaughtered by the Soviets had vanished.
This book tells the story of the Soviet expansionist theory which was not taught in the Woodland High School. Instructors provided amazingly lukewarm descriptions of Soviet Communist Theory as a philosophy of taking care of the common people.
The "Bridge at Andau", in simple language and vivid imagery, describes the actions of brave and desperate people fighting to escape the domination of the "Red Bear." In the five days following the expulsion of the initial soviet troops, Hungarians prayed for American intervention which did not come. In the third and final phase of the fight for independence, the Soviets returned to Hungary in a fury of modern tanks and a mechanized army with hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had orders to shoot everyone and everything.
"When the victorious Soviets finally entered the castle itself, the final bastion, only thirty young Hungarians remained to walk out proudly under the white flag of surrender," according to the book. "For three days they (teenage children) had withstood the terrible concentration of Soviet power, and they had conducted themselves as veritable heroes. The gallant Soviet commander waited until they were well clear of the walls; then with one burst of machine-gun fire, he executed the lot."
This book not only tells the horrors of Soviet-occupied Hungary, but provides insight to all countries that struggled under Soviet reign. On its pages are the horrors of torturous militia which "encouraged" confessions from the most devout would-be communists. These crimes against humanity, similar in many instances to those suffered at the hands of Nazi's but less publicized. Due to lack of media interest, this uprising, although bloody and foul, never caught the concern of the world. The people in this tiny country never gained a champion for their cause. And, so lived in terror until the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1990.

This book is one of my all time favorites. I can still see one of the woman in the fur coat running to across the bridge to freedom. I often wonder what happened to her. Today YouTube takes you across the area. The guard house is still there. I've read the book several times in the past 20 years. My other favorite is Michener's Poland. More stories of an incredibly courageous people.

On October 23, 1956, student protesters in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest uttered grievances against the Soviet puppet government in place at the time. It turned into a riot, and when secret police began shooting the protesters, the riot became an insurrection that eventually drove out Soviet forces from Hungary. Early on the morning of November 4, the Russians returned and crushed the insurrection mercilessly, restoring communist rule. Some 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled the country, most of who went to neighboring Austria, across a bridge near the community of Andau. It was here that James Albert Michener interviewed several hundred of these refugees, who reflected their experiences in the uprising as well as the life they had endured in Hungary up to then. This comprises his book under review. It was first published in 1957.
Students of the Hungarian Uprising (sometimes called the `Hungarian Revolution') will likely find Michener's work of some value, especially if one wishes to see the uprising through the eyes of its participants. Michener recounts the experiences of families and individual "freedom fighters" seeking a better life and alternative to Soviet domination and repression. A particularly valuable and interesting section is Chapter 6, in which Michener writes about a typical AVO man, a member of the secret police (Hungarian: Allam Vedelmi Osztag, more correctly known as the AVH, or Allam Vedelmi Hatosag). It was these individuals, often from insecure and unhappy lives that formed the backbone of Communist rule inside Hungary, promoting terror, and fears of torture and execution into the Hungarian populace. Michener places a tremendous emphasis in his book on the heroism demonstrated by the patriots of Hungary that rebelled against the Soviets, fighting off tanks with Molotov cocktails, aging rifles, or their bare hands. Particularly alarming are his accounts of Communist Party members and working-class people, who were supposed to be the founders of communism, who raised arms and vengefully attacked and drove out the Soviets from their nation!
There are, however, problems with Michener's work; they are not a criticism of Michener's own integrity. First, the fact that his book appeared in 1957, a very short time following the uprising and in the midst of the Cold War, a bias is evident in his words; his work could very easily have been written to promote further dissent against international communism, as it undoubtedly did. Michener was a very popular sensationalist in his day. Then again, the Russians and Khrushchev have only themselves to blame for the condemnation they received, as it was the Russians who returned to Budapest and mercilessly shot people not even associated with the popular uprising.
Second, his book pays little, if any, attention to the crucial politics behind the uprising. As his book was written too soon following the event, this is to be expected. It is only following many years and indeed, the eventual collapse of communism in Europe that the full story could be told and revealed.
Third, a number of crucial events following 1945 took place in Hungary that eventually exploded into the popular uprising of October-November 1956. Michener does not detail these crucial events; hence his book provides inadequate and only sporadic background information of the uprising. For instance, he does not take care to detail how the Communist Party remained highly unpopular throughout Hungary following the Second World War, yet were imposed on the people through vote rigging and Russian backing, as well as through the AVO and terror. His work only provides details of the moral and social effects of the uprising on Hungarians. The book is an interesting and sometimes exciting read, though it is far from a complete look at this event, which was so soon forgotten outside Hungary.

I read Bridge at Andau while in Budapest this spring. It was amazing to be in the places where this terrible history took place while reading Michener's account of the events. Two points were apparent to me; 1. I was surprised to realize that this history is overshadowed by other events in eastern Europe, 2. The book was written at the height of McCarthyism and must be taken with a small grain of salt. The stories told about the revolution of 1956 are no less legitimate or compelling than at the time the book was penned, but the purpose of the book was different. Michener wrote a novel that was to serve as a warning to anyone who might have romantic ideals about the evil communists that were percieved to be ready to destroy America. This is a great story about about courageous people. Unfortunately it may be misinterperted as soft sell propoganda about why capitalism is better than communism.

This true recounting of life under Communist rule in 1956 Hungary offers everything Solzenizen's Gulag Archipelago does, in about one-third the pages.
Like a well-written "who dunnit" mystery, Michener introduces characters that are all related to the central episode (a revolt against Soviet occupation) and ties them back to "the scene of the crime" in their own unique ways.
The radically different lives of each individual under Communist "freedom fighting" all arrive at the same intellectual conclusion after all: Communists suck.
The final two chapters are a hodge-podge of snapshots of refugees' stories and invective against American policies and is not as smooth as the rest of the book's intricate narratives. However,burried in it is the book's hidden treasure: a one-paragraph report of an New York Union Bigwig who was deported to Hungary as a Communist. In this single paragraph he is gratefully escaping with his life from his Worker's Paradise.
Read The Bridge at Andau to know what is happening in North Korea as you read this.

Well written by a master story teller, this is an account of the 1956 Budapest uprising against the puppet Hungarian state and their Russian masters. This book is relevant to our times, both as a seminal event in the Cold War and as a blueprint for Russia's illegal takeover of Crimea and the turmoil they foster in eastern Ukraine. The Russians revealed themselves as thugs in their client state of Hungary in the '50s and show the same face today as Putin tries to rebuild the Soviet empire. Truly a book for our times.

My not very informed perception of Michener was that his success as an author came from oversimplifying, dumbing down, and sensationalizing real history to make it palatable for a mass market paperback audience, and that his books were propagandistic. I would thus never have bought this book, and only read it because I was given it. That said, I rather liked the book (although it is the only Michener book I've read). It does a fairly good job of dramatizing the events of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Before you buy it, consider how it was written: during the Hungarian crisis, Michener went to one of the points along the Austria-Hungary border where Hungarian refugeees crossed into Austria, and the book is based on his interviews with those refugees and his observations at the border, as well as some historical background research. The book is written from a contemporary journalist's limited perspective, so if you are really interested in the 1956 revolution, there are much more authoritative and complete accounts. However this book is easy to read and an adequate first step in understanding 1956. I did not find the book's anti-communism heavy handed or crassly propagandistic, and Michener makes an effort to explain, sympathetically, how and why many Hungarians initially supported communism in the years after World War II.

Interesting story development. From interviewing refugees at the border crossing. The active participation of the author is very compelling in how he gathered information from "first hand participation" . This qualifies as unique and very interesting to me.

Michener's composition on how corrupted the communist approach to the "workers paradise" was in Hungary and the need for communism to entrap its population to "correct thinking" and use of terror and secret police to steer people to this paradise!

The true nature of communism also needs to construct barriers to keep its population "in" the "workers paradise" .

Well done! I read this book 58 yrs after I experienced it.

This is a crushing condemnation of communism and it hits you with a hard, visceral documentary style. This isn't a long winded Michener epic; it's a short book, hard to put down, and it has the tight control of a skilled newspaper journalist but with a very human touch. You'll be stunned by man's potential for inhumanity, but I think you'll also be duly amazed by the courage and resiliance of the Hungarians. Consider reading Tibor Fischer's book "Under the Frog" alongside this one; it's a great complement as Fischer gets you inside the surreal absurdities of the communist system with a black humour that is poles apart from Michener's doggedly objective approach -- but without reading the Michener you could miss the point about how horrible things really were.

I started this book unsure of whether I was going to be able to finish it, but soon enough I found a fascination develop around this composite tale of a people's fight for freedom. Gripping, emotional, and bare boned. The details of the propaganda used, the lies told by the authoritarian communist government of Soviet Russia, sound more and more familiar when read today with the knowledge that this story was written shortly after the described events took place. How familiar sounding are the stories of media manipulation, the reassurances of leaders that "Everything is okay, let us handle it."? Incredible, eye opening read.

I read this book years ago, yet its theme and message still abide with me. Michener personalizes the plight of a whole nation under the iron grip of an alien ideology as brutal and merciless as it is stupid. As someone who has travelled extensively in Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe, I cannot but be saddened by the deliberate and systemic suppression and attempted annihilation during the last century of the rich variety of cultures that have grown and flourished in that part of the world.
Unfortunately, the 1956 Hungarian revolution took place only within the borders of modern Hungary, not within historic Hungary. Consequently, Michener's book does not address the hardships of ethnic Hungarians in bordering lands, such as Romania. Because the 1956 uprising happened on the borders of the Iron Curtain, however, it provided Michener a brief opening through which he could view the horrors of Marxist-Leninist "scientific socialism." The Bridge at Andau brings these horrors to life for those of us in the Free World.
"Nonfictional" accounts of historical events tend to describe them impersonally, largely as sequences of governmental actions. Michener's novel drives home the consequences of the Yalta conference for the ordinary people who later had to pay the price for those actions. I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to understand the personal devastation wrought by utopian ideologies such as Marxism.

Required reading for anyone who wants to understand the underpinnings of a totalitarian state. It's especially important for modern American audiences who now live in an inverted totalitarian state whether you like it or not.

I am one of those who escaped from Hungary in 1956. But I have no recollection of it as I was 2 years old. This book give me much information about Hungary under the Communists, the revolution and the escape. In usual Michener style the book is very well written and provide much color. But it must be read in the context of the times when it was written including the Cold War.

THIS is the kind of book that s/b required to be read by students across the free world. Communism laid bare. Communism was incredibly destructive, cruel and murderous to its subjects. The government that was supposed to be powerful enough to give you everything you needed was certainly powerful enough to take away everything you had. The great crimes of Communism are the most important untold story of history in most of the world. Let's hope it doesn't come back in another form...

This book is one of the best books I've ever read. Not only was it entertaining, but it carries an educational value that is as relevant today as it was when it was written. In a very personal way, the Bridge at Andau shows the courage of a people and their struggle for freedom. It is as inspiring as the story of the American revolution--only it ended much differently. It is a part of world history that doesn't seem to get much attention--certainly not the attention it deserves. Understanding this event exposes the horrors of socialism and excessive goverment involvement in the free market. The author warns that Americans and others living in a democracy are not exempt or immune from these consequences. This work shows the historical failure of communism and socialism in a way that maybe nothing else can. As America continues to vote for more government programs, more entitlements, and support more government involvement in the economy, this book is a wake up call to where those votes may lead. I learned a lot and recommend it wholeheartedly.

This was an important history lesson from 1956. The story of the Hungarian Revolution is compelling but so are the lessons. It made me think about America's response to Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, and others. One Hungarian at the end of the book chides America for using rhetoric to provide hope to oppressed people. The disappointment is that they begin to realize that rhetoric is all we are really offering. Or, we offer more and then retreat, leaving those with the courage to act left to deal with their oppressors without arms or tangible support. It has encouraged me to read, and re-read important histories.

This reminds us of the personal courage required to stand up to tyranny. Peer pressure, fear of arrest, control of information, threats to family, loss of jobs, secret police, and torture are tools of totalitarian governments. Brave indeed are those who oppose dictators.

The Bridge at Andau, written by James Michener, is a book about the Hungarian revolution in the early 1950's. This book is filled with lots of detail about the fighting but does have it points of excitement. Besides the fact, it does have its points when you are asking yourself "Is this ever going to liven up?" This book does give you a true sense of how Russia treated the Hungarians and all the hardships that they faced, such as the arrests and serious beatings. One thing that I did not like was the lack of a main character. Most chapters started off where the last had just ended, just like a normal book; however the author usually focused on a new character and a new story. Having all the different characters made it difficult to follow and you do not find out what happens to all of them. It also made it confusing because I would often get characters mixed up with one another.
The title of the book is very fitting because the bridge at Andau was a crucial point for the Hungarians. The book clearly explains what the bridge was used for and its overall importance. In a way this book could be considered motivational because it tells of people who were going to be over run but instead fought for their freedom and won it. In general, this was a pretty good book. It had quite a bit of good action, with its only downfalls being a lack of continuity and, at times, it was a bit confusing.

This book is a very true account of what happened during the tragic Hungarian Revolution. As a Hungarian-American, I was fascinated to learn more about the history of Hungary. It is a first-hand view as witnessed by James A. Michener. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in European history. Good book, but not your typical Michenor read.

first read this years and years ago....

the west did much to betray the Hungarian people - but then again, they betrayed so many who had to live under Russia's yoke.

am still moved by this book today.

This is a must read for children of survivors of the "Hungarian Revolution." It eloquently tells the story of an event too painful for many survivors to tell and explains why the memories of this event are forever seared in their minds. My mother still bears the emotional and physical scars of the conflict.

I'm unable to review this book, which I had paid for I do believe, as I never received it. I have tried to contact the store
via this web site several times only to have it not show up on my order list. I ordered it for my Kindle
but never received it.

Before I read this book I knew very little about the Hungarian Revolution. Now I know why. The American government did not support the revolution as it had pledged it would. This book makes me wonder about the other historical occurences that we never here about. What else has happened?

I read this book as a reading assignment during high school 2 years ago, forgot the title, but still remember the history. I finally got the title in a search here and have bought it to read again because I missed some of the fine details in the hour class I had to read it in. It portrays the struggle and eventual defeat of the Hungarian Revolution well from the view of Hungarians, though it does not give us insight into the USSRs view, which I wouldn't expect in a novel about the Hungarians fight for freedom. An excellent read.

The Bridge at Andau is a heart warming story of the Hungarian revolution in October 1956. Michener tells a story of the Hungarian people living under communist rule after WWII. The hardships they endured were overwhelming. He tells of various Hungarians and their efforts to overthrow the communists. I never had any idea of what these eastern Europeans were subject to.
The reading was easy and the author indicates means by which the individual experiences were verified.

The writer is determined in this book to show the brutality of communism as covered by the Soviet propaganda in the middle of the 20th century. The book's composite characters demonstrate the reality behind the iron curtain. If anyone is wondering what life was like in Soviet controlled countries, read this book.

If you've ever been seduced by the phrase "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" then you must read this book: it shows you the cruel, cold face behind the mask of communism.

Excellent overall view of the events of 1956 in Hungary. Personalized stories are those of other refugie families I met in Austria in 1957-58; or like my family's. Brings the events close for the reader, although slanted toward Cold War view from the West.

I'll give Michener 2 stars because his book makes for interesting reading. This book has several problems. The biggest problem this book has is that Michener is a native New Yorker, and is EXTREMELY biased. The only people whom get a word in are the violently anticommunists. Michener apparently didn't talk to people who didn't aid in the revolution. He was probably using very extreme cases in his "study" of the AVO. In short, this book is not history, and is anticommunist propaganda. If you want an account of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 don't read this book...I would refer you a REAL historian. The only real use that this book could be used for was to show how anticommunist the West...other than that it's a worthless, one sided account of a failed revolution.

The expectation is that this is a story about the Andau Bridge, the bridge was barely mention until the end of the book. The picture on the paperback is totally misleading. The cover shows a bridge for cars over a river. The real Andau Bridge was a foot bridge over a treacherous swamp crossing. As the book tries to illustrate the plight of the Hungarian people, what comes across loud and clear is the brutality and inferiority of communism. On the bright side it does provide a great insight to the history of the Balkans area which at the turn of the last century was so topical.

Fascinating read. Great research and reporting. Sad to know that after WWII things like are still occuring. Those of us fortunate enough to be US citizens need to be more aware of the rest of the world.