While the only thing people usually say when someone mentions Romania is Dracula, there is so much more than that behind this classic story. Romania is a very beautiful country with gorgeous nature, kind people and rich culture. Whether you have already had a visit, or only planning one, I hope this list of books I put together, will help you understand this country better.
Alfred
Moses - Bucharest Diary: Romania's Journey from Darkness to Light
This book is filled with firsthand stories,
including colorful anecdotes, of the diplomacy, both public and private, that
helped Romania recover from four decades of communist rule and, eventually,
become a member of both NATO and the European Union.
Andrew
Eames - Blue River, Black Sea
The Danube is Europe's Amazon. It flows through
more countries than any other river on Earth—from the Black Forest in Germany
to Europe's farthest fringes, where it joins the Black Sea in Romania.
Arabella McIntyre-Brown - A Stake in Transylvania
Romania’s
kind neighbors, wildlife, tamelife, wildflowers, furious locals,
over-friendly strangers, cheese, firewood, life-threatening encounters, and
sheep. The damnable sheep.
It introduced the character of Count Dracula
and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. The novel tells
the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he
may find new blood and spread the undead curse and of the battle between
Dracula and a small group of people led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
C.C. Humphreys – Vlad: The last confession
Dracula. A name of horror, depravity, and the
darkest sensuality. Yet the real Dracula was just as alluring, just as
terrifying, his tale, not one of a monster but of a man... and a contradiction.
Catalin Gruia - Romania explained to my friends
abroad
If you want a bite of Romania and for whatever reason, you don’t have the stomach or the time to sample it here – for a month,
a year or a lifetime – this is the book you need!
Hannah Pakula - The Last Romantic: A Biography of Queen Marie of Romania
Drawing upon the young queen s diaries and
letters, the author describes her struggle to gain an independent footing in
the male-dominated court of Roumania, her early years as one of the most
admired beauties of Europe, and the decisive period during World War I when she
all but ran the Roumanian Government.
Herta Müller - The Land of Green Plums
Set
in Romania at the height of Ceausescu’s reign of terror, it is a profound and powerful look at a totalitarian state which comes
to inhabit every aspect of life; to the extent that everyone, even the most
strongest, must either bend to the oppressors or resist them and perish.
James Waterson – Dracula’s wars: Vlad the Impaler and his rivals
A Romanian warlord of the 15th century, who gained his name, Vlad the Impaler, because his favored execution method was to run a spear through his victim’s lower body, then stand them upright so the spear pierced the vital organs. This full history details his bloodthirsty military campaigns against the Turks and Bulgars.
From the remains left by the Romans to the
unique churches of Moldavia and Maramures, and not forgetting the Transylvania
of Vlad Dracul, Romania explains, informs, and inspires.
Ivor Porter - Michael of Romania: the King and the Country
This is the first biography of King Michael of
Romania for many years. Based on royal archives, unpublished
diaries, sources in Romania, and interviews, it integrates the story of Michael
with that of the country which he once ruled, and which he once tried to save.
Keith Hitchins – A concise history of Romania
This is a fascinating history of an East
European nation; one which sheds new light on the complex evolution of the
Romanians and the identity they have successfully crafted from a unique
synthesis of traditions.
Mihail Sebastian - Journal 1935-1944
One of the most remarkable literary
achievements of the Nazi period, Sebastian's journal vividly captures the
now-vanished world of pre-war Bucharest.
Nigel Shakespear -
Times New Romanian voices, and narrative from Romania
In a land full of character and contradiction,
there is a strong attraction for those with the spirit to meet the challenges,
where the one thing you can be sure of is the unpredictable. Life is not always
easy. These stories will tell you why...
Patrick Leigh Fermor – Between the woods and the water
A detour to the luminous splendors of Prague is
followed by a trip downriver to Budapest, passage on horseback across the Great
Hungarian Plain, and a crossing of the Romanian border into Transylvania.
Remote castles, mountain villages, monasteries, and towering ranges are the
haunt of bears, wolves, eagles, gypsies, and a variety of sects are all savored
in the approach to the Iron Gates, the division between the Carpathian
mountains and the Balkans.
Radu
Ioanid - The Holocaust in Romania: The
destruction of Jews and Gypsies under the
Antonescu regime
Invaluable...monumental...no comparable work in
any language has documented this important history with the thoroughness,
skill, and analytical sophistication this book demonstrates.
Robert
D. Kaplan - In Europe’s Shadow:
Two cold wars and a thirty-year journey through Romania and beyond
This book is a vivid blend of memoir, travelogue, journalism, and
history, a masterly work thirty years in the making—the story of a journalist
coming of age, and a country struggling to do the same. Through the lens of one
country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role
of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust, and more.
Sacheverell Sitwell – Romanianjourney
The natural richness and variety of the
landscape-from Transylvania to the Wallachian plains, the Carpathian peaks to
the Danube Delta - delight the author, as does the diversity of humanity he
encounters, while his deep knowledge of European art and architecture makes him
the ideal guide to the paintings, frescos, and buildings of Romania.
William Blacker - Along the Enchanted Way: A story of love and life in Romania
From his early carefree days tramping the hills
of Transylvania, to the book's poignant ending, Along the Enchanted Way
transports us back to a magical country world most of us thought had vanished
long ago.
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