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While Drakulić notes the liberation of the formerly oppressed, her hard hitting social commentary points out the repercussions and lack of progress since the end of Soviet domination.

She notes that she always felt superior to them, as Josip Broz Tito's regime permitted both a higher standard of living and greater freedom of movement.

While visiting Eastern European countries like Romania and Bulgaria Drakulić sees the degradation of national infrastructure, such as sewage systems.

According to Drakulić, the newly liberated states of Eastern Europe aspire to rejoin Western European society, which they were cut off from for more than 50 years after the Soviet occupation.

Despite the more recent communist past, in Drakulić's view Croatia's leaders call upon the memory of the fascist Croatian state of World War II.