Editorial Content for In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Robert D. Kaplan is uniquely suited to write about the history (especially during the last 30-plus years) of the country of Romania. Approaching the end of his service with the Israel Defense Forces in 1981, he had little idea of his next plan, position or career path. During his time in Israel, he had become fascinated with places of worship, whether they were Jewish, Christian or Muslim; while he had written about them for a number of publications, his writing income was minimal. One hot day in Jerusalem, he picked up a used book that would determine the course of his life and work in significant ways.
The book was THE GOVERNMENTS OF COMMUNIST EAST EUROPE by H. Gordon Skilling. As Kaplan read through the Cold War expert’s treatise, he realized that, unlike Israel and the Middle East, Eastern Europe was a place that few journalists were writing about. His own experiences in the early 1970s as a tourist in Romania, Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European nations had made a significant impression on him. According to Skilling, the current policies and politics of these countries were the result of over a thousand years worth of history, wars, ethnic divisions and, perhaps most basic of all, geography. Certainly the area must afford a rich supply of news and stories. And so, the day after Kaplan was released from the IDF, he purchased a ticket for Bucharest. His new life as a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe, specifically Romania, began.
"Kaplan is an excellent historical recounter. He is at his finest when describing, in the richest of detail, the resurrection of Romanian culture."
Romanian architecture and art critic Sherban Cantacuzino observed this: “National traits are determined by race, climate and topography. Frequent raids and invasions have made Romanians tough, brave and resilient. Political instability, the uncertainty of what the future holds, has made them intensely resourceful and practical…” Kaplan introduces the reader to Romania not only via his own experiences over the course of 33 years of travel, writing and research, but also through the observations, via his own senses, of Romania’s beauties and catastrophes. And what does the American/Western reader learn about this country, when many of us are more familiar with the Cold War history of the Soviet Union and East Germany?
Kaplan reveals the devastation of Nicolae Ceausescu’s “Romanian Communist” (as differentiated from Russian Communist) rule, as well as that of World War II leader Mihai Antonescu, who partnered with Hitler and oversaw the slaughter of Jews in some outlying Romanian regions, even as he saved many in Romania proper. We meet Romanian intellectuals, poets and professors. We see the effects of Romanian Communism as it sought to homogenize the culture and even eradicated it in many ways. Kaplan discusses how Romania was at the mercy of its own geography as Roman, Greek, Turkish and Russian conquerors moved across the area through the centuries.
The book also shows us how dramatically Romania has changed over the years as Communism made way for a more democratic society, and how the ugliness and grayness of Ceausescu’s era have been replaced by a more Western appearance. Yet it’s not only Westernizing influences that are changing Romania; it’s a restoration of the nation’s beauty (whether in its Byzantine and Gothic architecture, or the richness of the forests and countryside) that’s visible to the traveler or resident of the city, village or rural areas.
Kaplan is an excellent historical recounter. He is at his finest when describing, in the richest of detail, the resurrection of Romanian culture. Whether it’s the colors on a church’s hand-painted murals or the trees surrounding an area, his descriptions are vivid and almost palpable. His observations of the Romanian people and culture are equally as arresting, especially as he shares his interviews with politicians, professors and idealists who talk about the nation’s current struggles and the concerns they have about Romania’s future, especially the country’s relationship with Russia.
IN EUROPE’S SHADOW introduces Romania to any student of history, geography and political science, and is a must-read for future travelers of Eastern Europe. Kaplan weaves his personal traveling experiences with the history of a nation. His careful observations are tempered with the obvious care and concern of a man whose life has intertwined with a country he has studied for three decades. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about Romania and its surrounding neighbors, or the recent history of Eastern Europe. Although I previously knew little about Romania and her place in history, IN EUROPE’S SHADOW has filled in plenty of blank spots and drawn me to a country that has survived so much.
Teaser
Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. It was one of the darkest corners of Europe, but few Westerners were paying attention. What ensued was a lifelong obsession with a critical, often overlooked country --- a country that, today, is key to understanding the current threat that Russia poses to Europe. Through the lens of one country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust and more.
Promo
Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. It was one of the darkest corners of Europe, but few Westerners were paying attention. What ensued was a lifelong obsession with a critical, often overlooked country --- a country that, today, is key to understanding the current threat that Russia poses to Europe. Through the lens of one country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust and more.
About the Book
From the New York Times bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan, named one of the world’s Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine, comes a riveting journey through one of Europe’s frontier countries --- and a potent examination of the forces that will determine Europe’s fate in the postmodern age.
Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. It was one of the darkest corners of Europe, but few Westerners were paying attention. What ensued was a lifelong obsession with a critical, often overlooked country --- a country that, today, is key to understanding the current threat that Russia poses to Europe. IN EUROPE'S SHADOW is a vivid blend of memoir, travelogue, journalism and history, a masterly work 30 years in the making --- the story of a journalist coming of age, and a country struggling to do the same. Through the lens of one country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust and more.
Here Kaplan illuminates the fusion of the Latin West and the Greek East that created Romania, the country that gave rise to Ion Antonescu, Hitler’s chief foreign accomplice during World War II, and the country that was home to the most brutal strain of Communism under Nicolae Ceaușescu. Romania past and present are rendered in cinematic prose: the ashen faces of citizens waiting in bread lines in Cold War–era Bucharest; the Bărăgan Steppe, laid bare by centuries of foreign invasion; the grim labor camps of the Black Sea Canal; the majestic Gothic church spires of Transylvania and Maramureş. Kaplan finds himself in dialogue with the great thinkers of the past, and with the Romanians of today, the philosophers, priests and politicians --- those who struggle to keep the flame of humanism alive in the era of a resurgent Russia.
Upon his return to Romania in 2013 and 2014, Kaplan found the country transformed yet again --- now a traveler’s destination shaped by Western tastes, yet still emerging from the long shadows of Hitler and Stalin. IN EUROPE'S SHADOW is the story of an ideological and geographic frontier --- and the book you must read in order to truly understand the crisis with Russia, and within Europe itself.
Audiobook available, narrated by J. Paul Boehmer
