Paradise Regained records what Milovan Djilas himself has called "the rambling conversations shared by intellectuals who have grown old, each with a distinctly different experience." Their mutual respect is reflected in Sulzberger's recollections of their often spirited & frank discussions. Sulzberger provides what may be Djilas' final opportunity to expound on the great events of the 20th century as he saw them & what he learned from a life marked by significant political power as well as 29 years with no or restricted personal freedom. He provides a new, more human perspective of a key figure in Eastern European politics. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the 20th century & will also prove engrossing as one man's personal testament to a friend.
Cyrus Leo Sulzberger II (October 27, 1912 – September 20, 1993) was a U.S. journalist, diarist, and author, and a member of the family that owns the New York Times. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was that newspaper's lead foreign correspondent.
Milovan Djilas--Partisan commander, occasional political prisoner, author and a Vice-President of Yugoslavia--was the translator of Milton's Paradise Lost into Serbo-Croatian, hence the title of this book written by his friend, Cyrus Leo Sulzberger II. I read it because Djilas was a bit of a hero to some of us in high school and because I'd read several of his works. This reminiscence, however, was rather too rambling and personal to be of much interest.