David Selbourne returned from Bucharest in January 1990 having witnessed the startling events in the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe. In this book he gives an account of what led up to these political changes, based on discussions with a wide range of men and women, both in power and out. When he began to write his book, he was obliged to disguise the names of his informants to protect them, but in the final chapters their identities are restored as many of them find themselves thrust into the centre stage of political leadership. Selbourne suggests that the transformations which are occurring in Eastern Europe reflect those of the French Revolution, exactly 200 years earlier.