Table of Contents

List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Authors' Note on Terminology
Introduction: Transition from Communism - Qualified Success or Utter Catastrophe?
Part One: The Economic Evidence
Chapter One: The Plan for a J-Curve Transition
Chapter Two: Plan Meets Reality
Chapter Three: Modifying the Framework
Chapter Four: Counter-Narratives of Catastrophe
Part Two: The Demographic Evidence
Chapter Five: Where Have All the People Gone?
Chapter Six: The Mortality Crisis
Chapter Seven: Collapse in Fertility
Chapter Eight: Outmigration Crisis
Part Three: The Public Opinion Evidence
Chapter Nine: Disappointment with Transition
Chapter Ten: Public Opinion of Winners and Losers
Chapter Eleven: Evaluations Shift Over Time
Chapter Twelve: Towards a New Social Contract?
Part Four: The Ethnographic Evidence
Chapter Thirteen: Portraits of Desperation
Chapter Fourteen: Resistance is Futile
Chapter Fifteen: Return to the Past
Chapter Sixteen: The Patriotism of Despair
Conclusion: Towards an Inclusive Prosperity
Appendix: Data Sources
Selected Bibliography

About the Author

Kristen R. Ghodsee is Professor of Russian and East European Studies and a Member of the Graduate Group in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her articles and essays have been translated into over twenty languages and have appeared in publications such as The New Republic, The Lancet, Ms. Magazine, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She is also the author of nine books, most
recently: Second World, Second Sex and Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism, which has already had thirteen foreign editions.

Mitchell A. Orenstein is Professor and Chair of Russian and East European Studies and a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the prize-winning author, editor, and co-author of eight books on the social policy and political economy of postcommunist states, including From Triumph to Crisis, Privatizing Pensions, and Roma in an Expanding Europe. He has consulted for the World Bank, USAID, and the government of Slovakia.

Reviews

Laudable
*Anders Åslund, Europe-Asia Studies*

Ghodsee has teamed up with political scientist Mitchell Orenstein to present a comprehensive survey of all the evidence that things have gotten worse for Eastern Europe since 1989
*Helen Andrews, The American Conservative, The American Conservative*

Taking Stock of Shock results from a massive interdisciplinary endeavor, and it is a timely and crucial contribution to the debate on postsocialism. Knocking down disciplinary walls, Ghodsee and Orenstein provide a uniquely broad insight into the post-socialist landscape. This is more than merely a scholarly achievement. Building a compelling new narrative is crucial to help break down the walls of inequality and precarity that limit the actual exercise of the freedoms post-socialist citizens nominally gained when the Berlin Wall fell.
*Gabor Scheiring, Review of Democracy, Review of Democracy*

Ghodsee and Orenstein have written a provocative book. Drawing on an impressive array of economic, demographic, public opinion, and ethnographic data, they critically analyze the emergence of stark inequalities that have generated tremendous hardships for many and enormous benefits for some.
*Gail Kligman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, UCLA*

From a starting point of cacophony, where different disciplines and data seem to depict the post-Soviet transition as either a grand success or an absolute failure, Ghodsee and Orenstein seam together a convincing narrative where both achievements and disappointments can coexist. The book's focus on widening inequality allows reconciling these opposing views and providing crucial insights not only for scholars of transition countries but also for observers and policymakers in other regions
*Maurizio Bussolo, Lead Economist, World Bank*

The book presents many important pieces of evidence which, taken together, document the developments and the images of transformation that have led to the disillusionment of the majority of the population in the region today. It is therefore not only a valuable contribution to the transformation discussion across different academic fields but also has an appeal for general audiences.
*Luboš Studený, Historie-Otázky-Problémy*

This book is highly recommendable not only for the richness of data presented but also the provocative analysis, which helps to unsettle self congratulatory accounts of the "triumph of the West." East Europeans do not like inequality and unfairness, and their voices need to be heard.
*Ulf Brunnbauer, Comparative Southeast European Studies*

This extraordinary book is a thorough assessment of the post-communist transitions in twenty-nine nations of the region, written by two scholars, Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell A. Orenstein, representing the antipodes of the methodological spectrum. Ghodsee is a cultural anthropologist whose qualitative ethnographic approach highlights the idiosyncratic nuances of the communities under investigation. Orenstein is a political scientist specializing in quantitative research in political economy on a societal and cross-national level. Each became a renowned authority in their respective fields long before they coupled their scholarly efforts at the University of Pennsylvania. Congratulations to Penn for poaching them from other fine institutions!
*Krzysztof Jasiewicz, H-Net Reviews*