Customer Reviews

Modern Romania: The End of Communism, the Failure of Democratic Reform, and the Theft of a Nation

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As I have written previously for Amazon, I've been going to Romania since 1973 and have many very good friends there. I've watched that Country go through the throes of a Revolution which was not a real revolution. About all that really happened is that a lot of poor people lost their lives while the Communists then in power turned from red to a light gray and faded into the political fog. Amazon has one of the best collections of books on Romania.

Those once red people, now a light pink, but still red through & through are very much in power, and Gallagher tells why, how and what is most likely to happen. Frankly, it is very grim unless there are some massive changes - soon.

Having worked for ABC, Mutual, Deutsche Wella and others, I value high quality research. Best of all, everything Gallagher writes is documented with solid references, some of which I have checked. This book is one of the best of the recent times, events and leaders of Romania. It is must reading if you want to understand what is happening in the land of the Dacians who had attained a strong progressive culture with very high moral standards. I hope that will return, to wash away that violent polluted red of the Ceausescu era.

Dr. Dale

This book offers readers a look into a political system fueled by greed, corrupt from years of a communist mentality, and one being enabled to continue in the same path by NATO and the E.U. because of their own political agendas and goals.

This book argues that the average Romanian citizen is neglected and abused by the ruling elite, and little has been done since the fall of communism in 1989, by leading democratic nations to ensure a smooth transition from years under a totalitarian regime into this new found freedom we know as democracy.

Highly recommended reading for those with an interest in Romanian history or international politics.

Romania has long been a country that exists as an independent country but which has tended to be subservient to if not actually ruled by outsiders. At different times these rulers have Turks, Germans, Russians and others. The secret to survival of the Romanian culture has been an ability of influential Romanians to outwit powerful outsiders while attempting to accept their 'alien ways.'

The result is a country with an entrenched dominant party or oligarchy have created a partly democratic country with limited, tolerated opposition and a week independent sector but little real democratic culture.

With the fall of Ceausescu in 1989 democracy resulted, but essentially the same power structure remained through the Social Democratic Party.

This book presents a view of a Romania at a crossroads where the traditional powers that be are being confronted with an outside view as Romania has joined NATO and the EU, and local democratic forces are growing tired of the blatant corruption.

Romania could well be one of the world's next trouble spots.

This is not only funny it is idiotic. Romania one of the next trouble parts? Laughable! This is written by a person that has no idea of the actual life there but only what they may have heard. Armchair nonsense.