The authors purpose in writing this book
Timothy Garton in his book The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague (communism), takes us back in time on what led to the end of the cold war, which was marked by the collapse of the Berlin wall. The main objective of the book is to remind readers of the events that followed the end of three world wars that transformed the world to the better. The author mentions the people and nations that were directly involved and participated in the wars (Ash, 97). He also clearly elaborates on some of the silent heroes whose undying support led to the events that followed. The literature inspires the readers to fight persistently for what is right despite any form of resistance they may experience. It is clear from the analysis of the book that positive change is never easy to achieve. It requires people who have purposed to stand for what they believe in and defend it to the very end. The ultimatum of such change comes only with victory and not death of the leader or prominent member. This therefore means that such intentions ought to be passed on to subsequent generations and mentor people that see the worth of defending the course.
How he achieves his aim
Three specific insights derived from this book
While reading this book, I derived three insights, which include patriotism, determination and commitment. The solidarity movement has displayed patriotism, which was a group of people determined to bring about change. The fact that they were loyal to the course as well as the well-being of their countries made them fight on. Determination is another important aspect that has been displayed in the book. We realize that despite the fact that the freedom was declared and celebrated in a day, it took years of hard work and persistence to finally experience the change. Despite the threats they were frequently exposed to, there was no giving up or holding back, they had a course that was worth fighting for (Ash, 74). Commitment is another insight displayed in the book. This has been revealed by the men who stood together and for each other to facilitate the change. To achieve such success, they had to be united in mind and have a clear understanding of what they desired to achieve. It is such commitment that made them achieve their objective.
Works cited
Ash, Timothy. The magic lantern: the revolution of '89 witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and
Prague. London: Vintage Books, 1993.
