Romania Books

In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires

Radu Florescu, Raymond T. McNally

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The "real" dracula 3 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

If given the choice I would prefer to split this book down the middle, the first half being given fours stars and the second 1. I would have to say that the title of the books says this is a history of vampires as well as dracula. I think this is incorrect; there is one chapter on vampiric folklore which to be blunt is very vague and doesn't really tell you anything.

However, whilst I have doubts about there use of some evidence (the authors repeatedly seem very trusting of peasant folklore) the chapters on Dracula (Vlad Tepes), which constitute the bulk of the book, are very good and the book is worth buying for that alone.

I do have the feeling that once this was done the authors needed to padd the book out and hence add three chapters on vampire fiction to the present day. It is only because I have an obsessive need to finish any book I start that I finished this, otherwise I would have given up contented once they had finished with Dracula.

However, I am in agreement with the previous reviewer who stated that the score was recued by the appendixes. By bringing such resources in one place it is a very useful aid to the reader's further research and hence am happy to recommend.

Editorial Review:

"Little did the coauthors realize at the time they embarked upon this project over a glass of plum brandy in Bucharest more than twenty-five years ago, that their work would result in the discovery of the authentic, bloodthirsty prototype for Bram Stoker's famous novel Dracula." This pioneering study, first published in 1972, became a collector's item, so this fully updated edition is welcome indeed. The authors' pursuit of the notion that Vlad the Impaler (1431-76) was the original Dracula--through treks both antiquarian (in old libraries and museums) and geographic (in areas of Romania that were once Transylvania and Walachia)--has the thrill of an adventure story. In Search of Dracula is also an entertaining introduction to vampire lore and to people's obsession with Dracula. It has a delightful cover by Edward Gorey and numerous illustrations, including antique woodcuts of Vlad's impaled victims and photos from the authors' trips to Romania.

Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times

Radu R Florescu, Raymond McNally

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Biased and Self-Glorifying, Xenephobic Work 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Long ago I read the first book of Mr. Florescu on the subject, and so I threw myself eagerly to read this one. What a huge disappointment! To start, there are three things that are made clear with this book: 1.- Mr. Florescu will take ANY given chance to put his name and his family in the highlight, as if you bought to book to know about the nobility and long ancestry of his family tree. 2.- Oh, he HATES Hungarians, so he will take WHATEVER chance, real or fabricated to just expose his biased views about what a bunch of "traitors" and "spineless people" they are. 3.- Books will be SPOILED! So, if you just bought "Dracula" from Bram Stoker, read that one first or you will know the end of that book in the first chapter of Mr. Florescu and Mr.McNally's self-glorifying book. Oh, and another book is SPOILED the same way- no, even worse in the last chapter. Basically: "oh yes, there's this book about this that ends like this." Yep.

More in detail, the dates are scrambled, so do not read it without pen and paper next to you to unscrable the timelines and get a better view of the actions. It doesn't happen once in the book, but quite regularly. You will find interesting also, how the last chapter, after all you read, comes and states the exact opposite to what has been exposed in the rest of the book. Dracula's childhood, his younger brother's "encounter with the sultan", their opinion on the accuracy of Stoker's book and it's worth, and even the way Romanian people feel about Dracula. My advise is, if you are going to read this book, purchase a large stock of other books as crossreference. Among them, please do include the first book on the subject by Mr. Florescu himself. At the end, you are left with the feeling of having read the speech of a politician: you are just no longer sure whether it's true or a bunch of self-promoting lies.

Editorial Review:

With the phenomenal success of Elizabeth Kostova+s critically acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestseller, The Historian, there is a renewed interest in the true story of Dracula. Originally published in 1990, Dracula, Prince of Many Faces still stands as the definitive biography of Vlad Dracula of Romania.Dracula, Prince of Many Faces reveals the extraordinary life and times of the infamous Vlad Dracula of Romania (1431-1476), nicknamed the Impaler. Dreaded by his enemies, emulated by later rulers like Ivan the Terrible, honored by his countrymen even today, Vlad Dracula was surely one of the most intriguing figures to have stalked the corridors of European and Asian capitals in the fifteenth century. In this definitive biography covering Vlad Dracula+s life and subsequent legend, readers will discover that life can truly be more terrifying than fiction.

Red Horizons: The True Story of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescus' Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption

Ion Mihai Pacepa

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An interesting Spy-Story 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book in order to know a little more about Ceausescu's time. I found in the pages of this book a lot of allusions to corruption of his wife Elena, the most hated woman in the Romanian History (somebody related during his execution she received more bullets than Nick; his son Nicu a modern Caligula and the rest of hight-ranked politicians and functionaries of Communist Administration.

We found interesting connections between Ceausescu and international terrorism, Gadafi or Arafat even Carlos. And the deals with drug smuggling or selective murders abroad.

You will find in this book how many American or European functionaries had been corrupted by Romanian money during this dark years. Also there are a few interesting portraits of politicians of this years like Willy Brand, Breznev, Santiago Carrillo, Aldo Moro, Evita Perón, Mr and Mrs Carter (Mrs Peanut for Elena).

A good book. Actually, the best i read about Nicolae and Elena, but there's a lack of information about the daily life of Romanian people in this years.

Editorial Review:

Despite the ghastly details of Romanian spying and the casually ordered murders, Pacepa's truthtelling has many moments of towering humor.--Kirkus Reviews

Romania: An Illustrated History (Illustrated Histories)

Nicolae Klepper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Disappointing book. 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book falls short of being "an illustrated history". It has far too few pictures, maps etc. to achieve that claim. The books treats only few selected subjects extensively however most of the other topics are presented rather briefly. I believe it would have been better to keep everything brief and maybe make this book part of the for Dummies collection something like "Romania for Dummies".

Overall OK Book 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The book did present a number of "facts" that weren't available in other Romanian history books I've read (though some were rehashes of the Party line taken by the communist "historians" and "revisionists"). It would have been nice to let us know when some of these facts came from communist-era historians who, it seems, more often than not wrote a form of Romanian mythology instead of a Romanian history. And at times, I was lost while reading ... not sure what timeframe I was in. The book could have used a little more organizational effort. Maybe in a future reprint. Still, there was enough useful information to make the book worthwhile reading.

Editorial Review:

As a state, Romania has only been in existence since 1859, but the history of its people stretches to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, to the Geto-Dacians and Romans. This concise history tells the fascinating story of the evolution of the Romanian people, the creation of the Romanian Principalities, their struggle against empire-building powers, and their eventual unification to form the state of Romania.

Night; with Connections

Elie Wiesel

List Price: $19.85 By: Holt Rinehart and Winston Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $7.78

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 926 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What eyes could not see 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

From the moment we had began on this book in our classes it was truly an eye opener. Words cannot describe the misery that was felt in each and every word this book had within. The book itself had casted night over all of us, especially me as we listened intently on what could be known as the most heart striking tale. From the start of the camp to the death marchings in the snow, the story gives a full eye account of the horror that was seen in the Nazi war. No story ever has been written so amazingly nor dramaticly as this. Yes, it touched me darkly and it burned deeply but this story, this story is something everyone should read because no one should forget what happened so long ago. You cant go your whole life without reading this book, its something that you should not miss.

I give it a rating of five stars and I hope you, the reader, can also find that too.

Editorial Review:

In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

Saul Steinberg: Illuminations

Joel Smith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Best known for his barbed and brilliant art for The New Yorker, Saul Steinberg (1914–1999) did much more. He executed public murals, designed fabrics and stage sets, was an inventive collagist and printmaker, and turned his magic touch to the fields of painting, sculpture, advertising, and even wartime propaganda. This is the first comprehensive look at Steinberg’s extraordinary contribution to 20th-century art, which was that of a modern-day illuminator, putting word and image in play to create art that spoke to the eyes, and minds, of readers.
An introduction by poet Charles Simic tracks the origins of Steinberg’s darkly comic sensibility in the “Balkan bazaar” of his native Romania. Joel Smith shows how architectural training and an early rise to fame as a cartoonist in Fascist-era Milan honed the artist’s gift for subtle graphic invention, and explores why one of the most visible, prolific, potent, and cosmopolitan careers in postwar American art has so thoroughly evaded serious study. Tracing the evolving motives that underlie Steinberg’s multi-layered activity, this handsome volume also raises fundamental questions about the historiography of modernism and the vexed status of “the middlebrow avant-garde” in an age of museum-bound art.
Previously unseen sketches, documents, and printed matter from the artist’s papers illustrate the essay, career chronology, and entries for 120 objects featured in this important book.

Tortured for Christ

Richard Wurmbrand

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Testament to the Faith 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent little book that tells the remarkable account of Richard Wurmbrand, a Lutheran pastor who was tortured for 14 years in Communist prisons for his steadfast adherence to Christ Jesus. His stories will doubtless move you to tears, but his purpose is not simply to tug at your emotional strings--nor is the emotion without a powerful message. His courageous stand for Christ and the tremendous love that he and so many other Christians displayed to their captors and torturers under the most horrendous conditions is a powerful witness to the all-surpassing love of Jesus Christ that is alive in every believer. Truly only the supernatural love that comes from knowing the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ crucified, could have produced such a love in the face of unrelenting hatred and persecution. Wurmbrand repeatedly shows through his stories and experiences how communism was intent on trying to destroy Christianity, and how some Americans are blind to the dangers of it. The book is very interesting and quick to read--the only downside is the disjointed narrative and flow of the story. This however, is to be expected after all the tortures he endured, and he admits as much.

Editorial Review:

"Tortured for Christ" - After years of imprisonment and solitary confinement, enduring inhumane torture, Richard Wurmbrand emerges with a powerful testimony of courageous faith. Even today, believers are suffering and dying for Christ, yet their faith will not falter under the most unthinkable persecutions. In this stirring account, Wurmbrand (founder of The Voice of the Martyrs) encourages us to remember those in chains and equips us to help our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

The Romanian Revolution of December 1989

Peter Siani-Davies

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was the most spectacularly violent and remains today the most controversial of all the East European upheavals of that year. Despite (or perhaps because of) the media attention the revolution received, it remains shrouded in mystery. How did the seemingly impregnable Ceausescu regime come to be toppled so swiftly and how did Ion Iliescu and the National Salvation Front come to power? Was it by coup d'état? Who were the mysterious "terrorists" who wreaked such havoc on the streets of Bucharest and the other major cities of Romania? Were they members of the notorious securitate? What was the role of the Soviet Union?

Blending narrative with analysis, Peter Siani-Davies seeks to answer these and other questions while placing the events and their immediate aftermath within a wider context. Based on fieldwork conducted in Romania and drawing heavily on Romanian sources, including television and radio transcripts, official documents, newspaper reports, and interviews, this book is the most thorough study of the Romanian Revolution that has appeared in English or any other major European language.

Recognizing that a definitive history of these events may be impossible, Siani-Davies focuses on the ways in which participants interpreted the events according to particular scripts and myths of revolution rooted in the Romanian historical experience. In the process the author sheds light on the ways in which history and the conflicting retellings of the 1989 events are put to political use in the transitional societies of Eastern Europe.

Black Sunday: Ploesti!

Michael Hill

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Overview and Photo History 4 out of 5 stars.
19 of 20 people found this review helpful.

As a researcher on this topic for a relative of one of the 98th pilots lost on 1 Aug 43. I can only support and endorse the comments from tdolson@byu.edu from Provo UT , July 10, 1998 Stunning history & photography outweigh typographical errors Michael Hill has re-visited one of the most dramatic bombing missions of World War II. It was the longest bombing mission to date in the war, by the only bomber with the range to do it. He leads you through the exact targets and squadron placements, by name of pilot of each B-24 aircraft (178 of them), and simultaneously unfolds the "big picture" of the low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania. At least one bomb group was told in their final briefing, "coming back today is secondary." What a nice send-off to crews who had been training in the Libyan desert with exercises in formation 50 feet above the sand dunes! This dramatic mission resulted in the loss of over 360 crew. Some planes returned with corn stalks in their cowlings! The extensive list of crews, by airplane, and many photographs of planes and crews make this a must purchase for those whose relatives participated in the raid. The main distraction from the book is the extensive typographical errors, inconsistencies and mis-spellings of crew names, names of planes, and so on. But I am richer and my family history is stronger because I have read this book. Thanks, Michael, and thanks to the publisher for investing in a visually and textually compelling work. (If a second edition or printing is planned, perhaps a re-editing to keep the errors to fewer than can be found in this review could be undertaken.)

Editorial Review:

Tidal Wave! August 1, 1943. The legendary low level raid on Ploesti, Rumania by the 376th, 93rd, 44th, 389th and 98th Bomb Groups, is described by author/historian Mike Hill in this new large format, 50th Anniversary book. Never before published photos taken during the raid, many from the original negatives, dramatically show the raid, and give the reader a sense of the intensity of fierce flak, and aerial combat. Mike has interviewed many of the surviving veterans of the mission, giving the story a personal flavor from the unique view-point of the crew members. Also included is a complete listing of the aircraft and crews that flew the mission. Mike Hill also the author of The Desert Rats: The 98th Bomb Group and the August 1943 Ploesti Raid. The dust jacket artwork for this new book is by Mike Boss.

Into the Fire: Ploesti, The Most Fateful Mission of World War II

Duane Schultz

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

We were dragged through the mouth of hell."--from a Ploesti Mission debriefing report

"We knew it was a disaster and knew that in the flames shooting up from those refineries we might be burned to death. But we went right in."--Lieutenant Norman Whalen

Planned by Winston Churchill, authorized by Dwight D. Eisenhower, and executed by five specially trained American bomber units, the attack on the oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania, was among the most daring and dangerous missions of World War II. If the raid succeeded, the Nazi war machine would suffer a devastating blow. On August 1, 1943, nearly two hundred B-24 bombers flew from Benghazi, North Africa, with directions to descend on Ploesti at treetop level, bomb the refineries, and return. The low-level bombers could evade enemy radar and were thought to be more difficult to shoot down. But despite warnings that a German heavy flak train had been moved into the area and that the secrecy of their mission had been compromised, the bombers were sent out. Minutes from the target, one of the commanders made a wrong turn, leading the formations away from Ploesti. Recovering from this mistake, most of the bombers relocated the refineries, but the mission was doomed. The ensuing air-ground battle claimed dozens of the bombers, and many of those that survived the ordeal were forced to ditch in the ocean or in remote areas due to lack of fuel or structural damage.

In Into the Fire: Ploesti, The Most Fateful Mission of World War II, Duane Schultz re-creates this great battle, combining original research and interviews with survivors in order to capture the tension, drama, and heroics of the warring sides. More Medals of Honor were awarded for this mission than any other aerial combat enterprise in the history of the United States. But the medals are bittersweet testimony to the courage of the 1,726 young men who risked all on a fateful attempt to cut off the Nazi supply of "black gold."