Customer Reviews

The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania

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Although this is a book about a specific place during a specific period, what makes it so chilling is how it describes a descent of little steps into a nightmare world. For those who may even have lived through it thinking "it wasn't that bad," this book provides the opportunity to take a step back and realize "it was worse than we even imagined." Ms. Kligman's account is clarion call for the importance of taking a stand in every society in order to preserve the values we hold dear, but which are in fact as fragile as the weakest among us.

I'm an American woman living and working in Romania, and I have to disagree with Alexandru. From all I hear from my friends both male and female, this book isn't off-target at all. It IS true that many people say Ceasescu's policies didn't affect their lives "all that much", but the people who did have unwanted pregnancies or were harassed because they didn't have enough children were and are real people. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in reproductive issues -- in either Romania or the U.S.

This book speaks of the heartaches of scores of women due to a misguided 1966 Decree that was meant to create a new generation of socialists by removing birth control from the options available to the people. Although this is a book about women and their special struggles, as a man I found it interesting. My wife is Romanian and can corroborate many of the stories of these women to be true (or at least reasonable). But I'm also grateful that Gail Kligman didn't dwell on the sensationalism that the popular Western press loved to print following the Decree. In fact, she denies much of the fanciful stuff written to sell newspapers. There weren't masses of perverted bosses standing there watching gynecological exams. But the author does stress the heart-wrenching, personal stories of women who were forced to deal with this foolish Decree 770, many times to the detriment of their health or life.

None of the data are believable! The statistics are made up and it lacks objectivity as if written by an emotional and nervous wreck. Originally from Romania, I can testify that data on births and abortion could not and cannot yet be obtained, also the reasoning behind data is consequently false. It is a collection of false assumption. Too bad something like this (of substandard quality) has been published!

None of the data are believable! The statistics are made up and it lacks objectivity as if written by an emotional and nervous wreck. Originally from Romania, I can testify that data on births and abortion could not and cannot yet be obtained, also the reasoning behind data is consequently false. It is a collection of false assumption. Too bad something like this (of substandard quality) has been published!