A Cold War childhood in Albania (211)

Lea Ypi recounts her childhood in Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe, where communist ideology permeated every aspect of daily life. Despite the state's rigid control, her family lived under a veil of secrecy, using coded language to discuss political imprisonment and their own dissident history. The transition to a multi-party system in 1990 brought sudden, disorienting changes, replacing state-guaranteed stability with economic collapse, mass migration, and the rise of predatory pyramid schemes. Through the lens of her memoir, *Free: Coming of Age at the End of History*, Ypi examines the profound disillusionment that followed the end of communism, highlighting how individuals navigated the shift from a controlled socialist society to a volatile market economy. This experience fostered a deep skepticism toward ideological narratives, as she witnessed the devastating personal consequences of systemic political and economic upheaval.