Jacob Mikanowski is the author of one of Tyler’s favorite books this year called Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land. Tyler and Jacob sat down to discuss all things Eastern Europe, including the differences between Eastern and Western European humor, whether Poles are smiling more nowadays, why the best Polish folk art is from the south, the equilibrium for Kaliningrad and the Suwałki Gap, how Romania and Bulgaria will handle depopulation, whether Moldova has an independent future, the best city to party in, why there are so few Christian-Muslim issues in Albania, a nuanced take on Orbán and Hungarian politics, why food in Poland is so good now, why Stanisław Lem hasn’t gotten more attention in the West, how Eastern Europe has changed his view of humanity, his ideal two week itinerary in the region, what he’ll do next, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Recorded September 5th, 2023. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Jacob on X Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.
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Learn more@mercatus.org dot for a full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit conversationswithtyler.com.
hello, everyone, and welcome back to conversations with Tyler.
I'm talking today with Jacob Mykonowski.
He is the author of one of my favorite books this year.
It is called Goodbye Eastern an intimate history of a divided land.
He is also a well known journalist.
He's published in the New York Times, Atlantic, Harper's and many other places.
A historian who studied at UC Berkeley and in general, an all around smart, curious person.
Jacob, welcome.
Thanks so much for having me on.
It's a real pleasure.
If you had to generalize about the difference in senses of humor between eastern Europe and western Europe, how would you put it?
The eastern Europeans have a real sense of humor.
I don't know what western european humor is, but a sense of the tragic, sense of the absurd, a sense of how those two go together, I think that's a great question.
Finding laughter in the worst situations, finding a way to laugh at really dark things.
I think that's a feature of german jewish humor, ashkenazi humor, and I think it's found everywhere across the region.
I know there's a romanian saying to kind of laugh at your tears, and I think that kind of sums it up.
Laugh at your sorrows.
What do you think of the stereotype that, a, eastern Europeans don't smile very much and b, they sometimes think Americans are stupid for smiling so much?