Name: In Europe's Shadow
ISBN: 9780812996814

Robert D. Kaplan

"A history of Romania traces the author's intellectual development throughout his extensive visits to the country, sharing his observations about its reflection of European politics, geography and key events while exploring the indelible role of Vladimir Putin."--NoveList.

Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-year Journey Through Romania and Beyond

In Europe's Shadow

Elda Mengisto

I was interested in the book because I wanted to learn more about Romania, and when I saw this in my library, I figured I might give this book a shot.

With the chapter "Nabokov's Room", in which Kaplan describes his transition from working in Israel to working in Romania, I thought it started out a bit slow, and I couldn't connect to it as well. However, his description of the books he has, "Books are an act of resistance, not just to the distractions of the electronic age, but to our problems, and to our pretensions." (xxix)

When he focuses on Romania, in which he "learned how to be a journalist in Bucharest" (10), I found the narrative to gain more focus. A main point which I noted from the book is Romania playing as a borderland of itself, and a crossing between Byzantine, Latinity, and Slavic. I found this to be quite intriguing, especially in how it could have influence, despite being considered a journalistic backwater--not only when Kaplan first entered the country, but also today.
The historical and cultural aspects are focused in between, and I liked how they were all written.

Overall, this is a good book about journalism and Romania, and I look forward to learning more about it.

In Europe's Shadow Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-year Journey Through Romania and Beyond

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