Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution (Vintage) Victor Sebestyen (Author)
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Revolutionary
Twelve Days is a riveting day-by-day account of the defining moment of the Cold War—the inspiring but brutally crushed Hungarian Uprising.
Victor Sebestyen, a journalist whose own family fled Hungary, gives us a totally fresh account, incorporating newly released official documents, his family's diaries, and eyewitness testimony. We witness the thrilling first days when—armed only with a few rifles, petrol bombs, and desperate courage—the people of Budapest rose up against their Soviet masters and nearly succeeded. As the world watched in amazement, it looked as though the Hungarians might humble the Soviet empire. But the Soviets were willing to resort to brutal lengths—and, sadly, the West was prepared to let them. Dramatic, vivid, and authoritative, Twelve Days adds immeasurably to our understanding of this historic event and reminds us of the unquenchable human desire for freedom.
- Rank: #229920 in Books
- Published on: 2007-11-06
- Released on: 2007-11-06
- Original language:
English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x
.77" w x
5.21" l,
.79 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 384 pages
Description #1 by Bonanza - Public_Domain_Films' booth:
Please read & note:
This is a Rights holding DVD created & produced by me and is not factory made or sealed.
Total runtime of this DVD is 108 minutes.
Item specifics are:
Film 1: "The Reasons Why" (1959) COLOR Runtime 26:42
Television manufacturing at RCA's New Jersey plant. Includes scenes of design, engineering and quality control. Great scenes of TVs with flickering test patterns. Nowadays, when you see a RCA TV, look at the back and see where's the units are made, and it NOT in NJ Do we see any more finished cabinetry for our TV's? Do we see any sort of craftmanship in the TV's that we have today? Does our TV's today have either a 8inch or 10inch speaker firing toward us with tonal variation, high fidelity sound? If we go to the labs, do we see white shirt employees, or just laborers in blue anti-static smocks grunting over an assembly line earning pennies per day. Sorry, black plastic cabinetry, electronic tuning, wimpy sound, and what have you isn't called "quality". Yet, RCA was the leader in TV market, with Zenith, Curtis Mathes, Fisher, all running behind real close.
Film 2: "A Welcome Guest in the House" (1957) B&W Runtime 23:40
Tribute to television as servant of the public in the Cold War era. Wickedly ironic piece (but totally straight) about how wonderful Television is to entertain our children about Communism, the Hungarian revolution, prison riots and other heartwarming stories! Let's plop him down in front of the TV rather then him doing creative stuff outside! Honestly, I thought this whole film was pulling my leg, when in fact the sponsors of this film (which look like they meet in someone's living room) is being damn serious about this. So parents, call jimmy in from his playtime (wherever you are, since there's no hint of parental supervision at all in this one) and plop him down to watch tornado coverage!! Plenty of cool early tv bits.
Film 3: "Story of Television" B&W Runtime 13:46
One side of the TV story - worth it for unique early footage
"The Story of Television" might be better titled "The Official Story of RCA Television." No hint of Baird, Jenkins, Farnsworth or other pioneers in this company promo piece. RCA always claimed to have perfected and introduced TV to the public single-handed. The intro presages the satirical film "Your Name Here" - taking us from the Sphinx to Chartres cathedral to...wherever the camera crew happened to alight from the subway in Queens looking for rooftop antennae. A pretty model in an Andrew Wyeth-like setting realizes her eyes don't work around corners or far away. Luckily she has binoculars along, but something more remains to be seen. That is where RCA comes in. Chairman David Sarnoff and inventor Vladimir Zworykin discuss the birth of the Iconoscope tube. Watching Sarnoff read his "conversation" off idiot cards is excruciating. He was never at his best in front of a camera, but the great mind that had built RCA was obviously beginning to stumble a bit by 1956. Concise animation shows how TV works (still does, pretty much, except now cameras have chips instead of tubes, and 3 scanning guns for color). Then - some 1930s footage that is absolutely priceless for showing a buried era of TV history. The ID card of W2XBS was one of the only pictures NBC broadcast for several years (along with a revolving Felix The Cat figure). The idea was to hold a place on the TV band until RCA developed a system it could own and control. Even then, they were not anxious to develop content. After $50 million spent on R&D, NBC's first actual TV show went on the air in 1936 with only one camera and no scenery. Clips with a cameraman, floor director, cyclorama and large movie lights are from that show.Scenes of the giant 2-truck Telemobile Unit, New York World's Fair, and experimental NBC studio with silver painted cameras and small orchestra, all date to about 1938-40. Print and photo documentation on these years is plentiful, but only a few minutes of movie film is known to survive.
The narration line about "the vital bloodline of competition" rings a bit hollow. NBC stopped experimental broadcasts at least once when competitors such as DuMont beat them to the market with home sets. As NBC was the only station on the air, no one could demo sets, and RCA could be the pioneer in home television.The film ends abruptly with a viewer's-eye shot of an early set.
Once again, the experimental scenes are unique as far as I know, and the overview of TV history is a modestly good, quick summary once RCA's interests are understood.
Film 4: "The Story of Television" (1956) COLOR Runtime 14:50
RCA's corporate history of pre-1956 developments in television. Shows efforts of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in the creation, development and introduction of the all-electronic TV system; explains how science made television a working reality. David Sarnoff tells of the early research and experiments. Shown is the first successful picture tube, the first experimental TV station, the problems of improving picture quality and reducing the size and cost of components at the transmitting and receiving ends, and the function of mobile units. Actual scenes from TV "firsts" are included -- President Roosevelt opening the 1939 New York World's Fair, the visit of the King and Queen of England, and the 1940 Republican Convention in Philadelphia. Animated diagrams demonstrate how a TV camera converts electronic beams into a picture.
Film 5: "Television Tomorrow" B&W Runtime 12:16
Great film showing the ea...
Description #2 by eBay - grandeagleretail:
Store Search search Title, ISBN and Author The Tenth Child: A Hungarian Girl's Search for Freedom by Julianna Withey Estimated delivery 3-12 business days Format Hardcover Condition Brand New This is a powerful story of Julianna, the tenth child of poor Hungarian peasants, whose life spread through the most challenging and tragic historical milestones of twentieth century Europe: Second World War, Nazi occupation of Hungary, Communist Crackdown, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Julianna s
Description #3 by LangtonInfo.com:
In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of one of the Cold War's defining events, a vivid, authoritative account describes the 1956 efforts of the Hungarian people to overthrow their Soviet rulers, the lack of support from the Western nations for the revolt, the devastating defeat of Hungarian forces, and the aftermath of the struggle. Reprint.
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