This new book examines Albania's transition from Communism via the experiences of a diverse range of families, highland villagers, urban elite, shanty dwellers--Clarissa de Wall has followed the lives of Albanians there since 1992. As such, this is a history--of economic, social and political change--told from the perspective of the participants. We see how far the archaic world of customary law continues to pervade highland life, from dispute settlement to arranged marriages. At the same time, the author shows us members of the ex-communist elite in Tirana embracing rentier capitalism, while squatters on state farmland live under constant threat of eviction. Albania, the author suggests, is a country wracked by contradictions: in flight from its Communists past and yet still beholden to its rural traditions; keen to embrace free markets but without foregoing the security of central planning.

I.B.Tauris in association with the Centre for Albanian Studies