I’ve been goaded into an interesting viral blogtacularism where I’m to select but a single book which I would recommend wholeheartedly to those partial to reading and then explain my recommendation within a single paragraph.

I was originally tempted to hawk a seminal masterpiece of philosophy, then cajoled into mentioning an engrossing novel with clear political economy overtones, but ultimately decided on something which should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in Romania, native or not.

Available in both English and Romaneşte, it is my distinct intention to hammer home to you a burning desire to get your hands on a copy of Romania by Lucian Boia, pre-eminent historiographer of Romania who was distinguished both before and after the so-called revolution.

Professor Boia is a talented scholar on an important mission to openly and judiciously wade through the various propagandized histories that swirl a fog around attempts to understand Romania, a nation whose history has long-been a manipulative toy in the hands of whomever ruled the region(s). From the Dacians to the Slavs to the Romans to the Magyars to the Turks to the Austrians to Ceauşescu, serious attempts to understand the Romanian peoples have been subverted in favor of politically expedient half-truths which have had a lasting impact on how current generations of Romanians understand themselves. Romania is a brilliant, honest dissection of all the known factual information where the author goes a step further in inviting you to join in a realistic putting-together of the puzzle pieces so you might get a better grasp who Romania has really been all these centuries without feeling as though some vitrolic agenda were predetermining conclusions. If you have any interest in Romania, however passingly casual the fancy or gravely central to your core being, you absolutely must –without a doubt– beg, borrow, or steal Romania, tara de frontiera a Europei by Lucian Boia.

End your ignorance and go get it. Imediat!

(I would be curious to get literary recommendations in a single paragraph from Stadium Saint, Journey, and Pump Up the Valium. I do hope you three jump on the bandwagon. Oh, and as part of the taggery, it is my obligation to direct you to read the official rules about how to create your post on this topic. I look forward to learning about your suggestions.)

Craciun fericit, y’all.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 24th, 2006 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Politics, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.