Debating the Past

Cover

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Title page

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pp. i-iii

Copyright page

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pp. iv-

Table of Contents

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pp. v-vi

Introduction

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pp. 1-6

This book contains four historiographical studies, devoted to the most hotly debated issues of the history of Bulgaria from its liberation (1878) to the present that have engaged not only professional historians, but other scholars and the broader public as well. These are Stefan Stambolov’s dictatorship...

CHAPTER 1: Stambolov, the Russophiles, and the Russophobes in Bulgaria

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pp. 7-86

On July 6, 1995, a monument of Bulgarian statesman Stefan Stambolov— representing only his head with a deep cut on it—was inaugurated in the garden in front of the Army Club in Sofia, on the spot where he was murdered 100 years before. Insofar as Stambolov had become a symbol...

CHAPTER 2: The Rule of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union and the “Worker-Peasant Alliance”

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pp. 87-144

More has been written on the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (Bulgarski zemedelski naroden suyuz, henceforth the Agrarian Union or simply Agrarians) than on any other party except for the Communist Party. This interest is no coincidence, even if the motives remain hidden. The Agrarian Union was a mass party...

CHAPTER 3: The Debate on Fascism and the Anti-fascist Struggles

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pp. 145-222

Among the debated issues in Bulgarian historical scholarship, a central place is occupied by fascism and, closely connected with it, the antifascist struggles. In what follows I will trace the evolution of the debate: its initial formulation and further elaboration, changes in the rhetoric...

CHAPTER 4: September Ninth, “People’s Democracy” and Socialism

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pp. 223-318

This essay traces the evolution of the views on the communist takeover in Bulgaria (September 9, 1944), the “people’s democracy” (1944–1948), and socialism for the duration of the regime and after its fall. The communist regime shaped and strictly controlled knowledge about itself, its genesis, and its past....

CONCLUSION: The Truth and Objectivity Question in Bulgarian Historical Scholarship

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pp. 319-368

In what follows, I will review the concepts of “objectivity” and “truth” in Bulgarian historical scholarship on the basis of my historiographical research and observations. As will be seen, there is a great difference between theoretical-methodological statements and historiographical practice...

Transliteration

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pp. 369-

back cover

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