Kristen Ghodsee’s latest book, The Left Side of History: World War II and the Unfulfilled Promise of Communism in Eastern Europe, has received a Heldt Prize honorable mention for best book in Slavic and East European Women’s Studies.

The Association for Women in Slavic Studies, which confers the Heldt prizes, describes the book as compassionate and courageous. In it, Ghodsee, a professor of gender and women’s studies, tells the story of two communist believers, a British officer and a 14-year-old Bulgarian girl who grew up to become a high-ranking leader of the Bulgarian women’s movement.

“Ghodsee’s moving infatuation with the idealism and bravery of these two people, evident in her captivating prose, serves a larger purpose: the author narrates a complex story about the experience, perception, and memory of communism and the disillusionment with the dreams of democracy and free market economy after 1989,” the association writes.