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James A. Michener
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The Bridge at Andau Paperback – January 1, 1958

by James A. Michener (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,305 ratings
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At four o'clock in the morning on a Sunday in November 1956, the city of Budapest was awakened by the shattering sound of Russian tanks tearing the city apart. The Hungarian revolution -- five brief, glorious days of freedom that had yielded a glimpse at a different kind of future -- was over.But there was a bridge at Andau, on the Austrian border, and if a Hungarian could reach that bridge, he was nearly free. It was about the most inconsequential bridge in Europe, but by an accident of history it became, for a few flaming weeks, one of the most important bridges in the world, for across its unsteady planks fled the soul of a nation...Here is James A. Michener at his most gripping with a historic account of a people in desperate revolt, a true story as searing and unforgettable as any of his bestselling works of fiction.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Corgi
  3. Publication date
    January 1, 1958
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002C0MAB8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Corgi; S529 edition (January 1, 1958)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,305 ratings

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James A. Michener

James A. Michener

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James Albert Michener (/ˈmɪtʃnər/; February 3, 1907 - October 16, 1997) was an American author of more than 40 books, the majority of which were fictional, lengthy family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. Michener was known for the popularity of his works; he had numerous bestsellers and works selected for Book of the Month Club. He was also known for his meticulous research behind the books.

Michener's novels include Tales of the South Pacific for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948, Hawaii, The Drifters, Centennial, The Source, The Fires of Spring, Chesapeake, Caribbean, Caravans, Alaska, Texas and Poland. His non-fiction works include Iberia, about his travels in Spain and Portugal; his memoir titled The World Is My Home, and Sports in America. Return to Paradise combines fictional short stories with Michener's factual descriptions of the Pacific areas where they take place.

His first book was adapted as the popular Broadway musical South Pacific by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and later as a film by the same name, adding to his financial success.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo byRobert Wilson [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
1,305 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Karen Monsen
5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written and researched book about Hungary's revolt against communism
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2023
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In the 1950s, Michener volunteered to help refugees cross the Bridge at Andau into Austria escaping communism and the Soviet regime, which was putting down a temporarily successful revolt in Budapest, Hungary. Horrified by what he saw and heard, he investigated in depth what brought about the revolt and its aftermath. This is a profound indictment of communism. Even though written in the 1950s, and being dated, it reverberates in the news from Ukraine and Putin‘s Soviet-era desire to rob the freedom from his neighbors. An excellent book. I learned vasts amounts about Hungary and its history. I‘m so glad I found and read this book. But skip the audio. It is monotonous to the point of robotic.
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Jan Moniz
4.0 out of 5 stars Great History lesson from Michener
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2023
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Did not realize how many varied books he wrote in his life and what a treasure he was on so many differant topics. This book was very interesting to me and my husband who is half Hungarian - we remember hearing about the invasion in Hungary as children but never knew the whole story. We are reminded now that we are in Ukraine and what is happening there. We have visited Budapest a few times and this book really gave us more of a complete vision as to what the people went through at the time and another history lesson on the horrors of communism to humans.
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Anthony Trendl
5.0 out of 5 stars Hungarian Revolution is Memorialized in Dramatized History
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2006
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Thousands of Hungarians were killed by Soviet forces in November 1956. Their crime? Taking back their country from foreign leaders. At that time, 200,000 more fled Hungary in the months following, knowing that the oppressive, murderous communist leaders were not going to show mercy to those who were involved.

James Michener's "Bridge at Andau" tells the story of those fleeing. He was there to see it, and told what he saw. Michener's storytelling style is a kind of John Grisham mix of detail and personality. He took real lives of people struggling to survive and presented them to the horrified world. Michener researched his story in Austria and at the bridge itself.

Michener published the book in 1957, while the crush of the Hungarian people continued. America refused to assist the pleas of the Hungarian revolutionaries, based on a combination of American opinion, and a real concern that WWIII might break out in the midst of the Cold War. Instead, we focused on the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, the Hungarian people suffered.

Andau is an Austrian city at the Hungarian border. It was called Mosontarcsa, as part of Hungary, until 1921. It was a small village, but a key point for refugees escaping.

The value of reading this today is it shows us the culture of Hungary as it was during the Soviet occupation. It shows the complex, and often compromising position average Hungarian citizens had as they were part of the communist party. Unwilling, but joining to have access to things, they lived daily through trials unlike any we have known in the USA. When, in 1956, a revolution began, many dropped their party inclinations and either fought or fled. Many died in the process.

On one hand, this provides a slice of the events, as chronicled at one location. However, it also gives us a broader view of what the Hungarian people were wanting, what they were missing, and why so many were willing to die for freedom. It also shows the consequences of one country trying to fight for freedom alone. It inspires us of great heroes, and reminds us of the tensions our leaders are exposed to when it comes to bringing freedom to another country.

Michener acknowledges the weaknesses of the anecdotes of each person he spoke with. How does he know they are true? He explains in a postscript how most names have been changed and how some stories could be proved, while others could not.

To get an accurate, historical view of what happened in 1956, it is best to read something published later, after many more facts were available. Dozens of great books exist to meet this need. To read a significant fictionalized collection of personal stories, "Bridge at Andau" is as good as it gets.

I fully recommend "Bridge at Andau" by James A. Michener.

Anthony Trendl
HungarianBookstore.com
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Andrei Filotti
3.0 out of 5 stars The sad picture of a revolution against totaliarism which never got any help from the democratic world
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2013
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The book, written in 1957, is based on an important number of discussions with refugees who were fleeing Hungary, after the anti-communist revolution against communism was crushed by the Soviet tanks. The presentation of the events of the revolution is vivid and realistic, as long as it does is limited to facts and does not attempt to explain what happened in Hungary in 1956. Because besides the presentation of the events, the book about the Bridge at Andau sadly demonstrates the inability of a writer to understand what was really going on, even though he was living in the part of the world where the events took place. Therefore the image of Hungary in 1956 is extremely misleading.

The book presents the revolution as mainly directed against the Soviet occupation. In reality it was a rising against the communist regime, which had been installed in Hungary, as a consequence of the division of Europe, agreed upon in the Yalta accords. The presentation of the Hungarian secret police, the AVO, as supporting the Russian occupation is false. The truth is that the secret police, as a repression organism of any dictatorial regime, was created by the Hungarian communist party and was subordinated to the Hungarian authorities. The leadership of the communist party was not only totally informed about the excesses of the AVO, many described in the book, but even directed the AVO to carry them out. The book incorrectly seems to attempt to put all the blame on the secret police and not on the communist regime. This is only an example of the impossibility of the author to understand what was going on in Hungary.
The book however, presents the conclusions of the Hungarian revolution, not so much in proving that neither the communists nor the Soviets were willing to give up their rule of Hungary and thus were perceived by the world as an oppressive regime. The communist parties in some European countries, such as France or Italy, continued to flourish even after 1956. The main conclusion is indicated in the book in the form of the sad conclusions drawn by a Hungarian refugee, which the author presents:
“Do you know why Hungarians like me are so bitter against the United States. Fr six years you fed us this propaganda. For six years the Russians trampled us in the mud. But when we rose in rebellion for the very things you told us to fight for, how many Americans stepped forth to help us? Not one? Who did join our side? Russian troops. How many American tanks helped us? Not one. This is a terrible indictment.
“Bu what drove us almost to desperation was not your failure to support us with materiel. It was your failure to speak up boldly on our behalf. My nation died in silence. Could not one clear voice in America have spoken forth in late October? Mr. Bulganin spoke out about Suez, and England and France retreated. There was a ten-day pause in our revolution when one daring American voice might have made Bulganin retreat. But it never came. There was silence along the Danube and in the United Nations. Days later, when only the dead could hear, America finally spoke. It was a message of condolence.”

This conclusion reverberated along all oppressed nations under communist domination and practically eliminated any other attempts in the communist world to revolt against the oppression. And the book “The Bridge in Andau” is important just for highlighting this conclusion of the Hungarian revolution which is too often forgotten.
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Top reviews from other countries

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robert goodrick
5.0 out of 5 stars Enormously relevant to the wayward trends in present day society.
Reviewed in Canada on February 14, 2022
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This book is enormously relevant to our society in the West today, where human rights won for us by our courageous forebears and by now so long taken for granted are under dire threat from the creeping menace of socialism that is rising in our midst. As sure as human nature is the template that overlays our unwitting behaviour the lessons of history once forgotten are bound to be relived unless the abysmal pitfalls as those chronicled by The Bridge at Andau are deliberately avoided. Unless we take deliberate action to stave off an otherwise inevitable outcome, life on the streets of NYC will soon be indistinguishable from the misery of that in downtown Havana.
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Ion
1.0 out of 5 stars Mala descripción
Reviewed in Spain on December 7, 2021
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Lo de estado "como nuevo" no es verdad. No lo devuelvo, pero insatisfecho con la transacción.
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Sir Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding history of the Hungarian uprising and crushing of 1956.
Reviewed in Australia on February 18, 2023
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Michener has written a superb human interest history of Hungary's attempts to gain freedom from Soviet control in 1956 and its subsequent crushing. He interviewed around 100 refugees who fled to Austria where Michener was then living. Their stories and the accuracy of historical facts make this a compelling read.
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JoseKruzic
4.0 out of 5 stars Muito bom, mas sem a magia da sua semi-ficção histórica.
Reviewed in Brazil on May 6, 2016
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Gostei do que sempre gostei em Michener: sua integridade e retórica narrativa, neste caso sobre um marco na desconstrução do comunismo, cujo único triunfo foi enganar tanta gente por tanto tempo. Mas não enganou os submetidos a ele. Os insubmissos foram eliminados; o medo relegou os demais à resistência passiva, que tornaria o sistema irremediavelmente inepto em todas as suas instâncias, até caírem de podres.
Michener escreveu para quem se dispõem a ver além do que contava a eficientíssima máquina de propaganda soviética.
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cristina
4.0 out of 5 stars The bridge at Andau
Reviewed in Italy on March 8, 2014
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Consegna puntualissima.
Il libro parla di una periodo "nero" di storia moderna. Triste , ma impossibile disconoscerlo. Meglio non dimenticare certe crudeltà.
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