The Artful Albanian; The Memoirs of Enver Hoxha

London: Chatto & Windus, 1986. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Good. xvi, [1], 394, [4] pages. Map. Publisher's Note. Abbreviations. Chronology. Appendices. Notes. Biographical Notes. Index. Cover states "A Paperback Original". Sticker residue and scuff on front and back covers. Enver Halil Hoxha (16 October 1908 - 11 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who served as the head of state of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He was chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania and commander-in-chief of the armed forces from 1944 until his death. He served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times served as foreign minister and defence minister as well. During his 40-year-rule, he focused on rebuilding the country, which was left in ruins after World War II, building Albania's first railway line, raising the adult literacy rate from 5% to 98%, and leading Albania towards becoming agriculturally self-sufficient. For more than 40 years Hoxha was Number One in Albania, Europe's most isolated and insulated country, virtually cut off from the West and cutting itself off, successively, from its partners and patrons in the communist world: Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and finally China. In the 1970s Hoxha produced a flood of published material in the form of diaries, reports and memoirs presented his version of his country's experience. He had no special affinity for the truth. His works are dominated by the theme of Albania as the one true Marxist regime and had the purpose of justifying himself and denigrating his enemies (who included his colleagues, Tito, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Mao). The only communist leader he liked and admired was Stalin. Nevertheless, with all the necessary reservations, the accounts of conversations which the editor has selected for this volume are both fascinating and revealing. He interlards them with extensive comments and notes which constitute a running history of postwar Albania.