Customer Reviews

History of Transylvania

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This is an abridged translation of a three-volume history of Transylvania ( http://www.amazon.com/History-Transylvania-Vol-Beginnings-1606/dp/0880334797/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325803922&sr=1-4 ) written by a group of Hungarian scholars. On one hand, it is by far the best book on Transylvanian history that I have found so far: the most complete and the most carefully researched. But it is not perfect!

It expresses the "Hungarian view" of Transylvanian history very strongly, though it recognizes and (mostly) respects the "Romanian view". Unfortunately, while trying to eliminate the more chauvinistic aspects of the original work, the authors have allowed a few extreme (not to say snide) comments on various aspects of the Romanian view.

On the other hand, it has one virtue that the translated "full" version does not have: it contains excellent plates, some in color, including some detailed color renderings of valuable maps. For the three-volume "full" version, illustrations have all been eliminated, and maps have been reduced to line drawings, some of them too small to be readable - by us older folks, anyway.

(I have to insert an irrelevant remark: among the color plates in this edition was a portrait of a "young Hungarian gentlewoman" of the early 18th century. This coincided perfectly with one of my literary characters, a Transylvanian baroness of, oddly enough, the early 18th century! I missed this picture terribly in the three-volume version.)

As for the conflict of views between Romanians and Hungarians, I suspect that no compromise will ever be accepted. Transylvania is a precious place to both nationalities! Disagreement is not just over interpretation but also over facts: for instance, how many Romanians lived in Transylvania at various times? (The Romanian position is that Romanians have ALWAYS been a majority, ever since they evolved out of Romanized Dacians in the early Middle Ages. The Hungarian position (as defined in this book and its full version) is that Romanians were not a majority until the 18th century, and had no permanent settlements in Transylvania before about 1200. Obviously many in-between positions are possible, but none have been defended so vigorously as the extremes.)

If you can afford the three-volume version, go for it! - while being aware that this is just one side of the controversy, however well stated. If your budget is somewhat smaller but still not too tight, go for this version - with the same caveat.