Romania: An Illustrated History

by Nicolae Klepper, Nick Klepper

The history of Romania is the history of the Romanian people. Nicolae Klepper, a native Romanian, gives us all of Romania-from the days of the Roman Empire to the fall of communism, and beyond. As a country, Romania has only existed since 1859, but the history of its people stretches back to the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, to the Geto-Dacians and the Romans. This concise yet thorough narrative tells the fascinating story of the evolution of the Romanians, the creation of the Romanian Principalities, their struggle against empire-building powers, and their eventual unification to form the state of Romania. Many chapters begin with a section entitled "Perspective," which provides context for Romanian history by describing events occurring simultaneously in other parts of Europe. The book's engaging, accessible format features over eighty illustrations, maps, and charts.

Genres: History, Romania, Nonfiction

332 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Also known as Nick Klepper

Reviews

[Jackson Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The political history of Romania is complex, brutal, and tragic. Nicolae Klepper does an admirable job providing a survey of it and recent developments in the arts and culture in this two hundred and eighty-two page book. A less parsimonious writer would have written three to four times as much to convey the same information.

Klepper's brevity is also a shortcoming. The writing is dry. The author assumes the reader has a complete knowledge of the geography of southeastern Europe. Without that, the narrative is often confusing. Still, the book conveys a lot of information but perhaps not with the best methodology.

Thus, the three star rating.

[Chris Lira · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really seems like a massive collection of bullet points masquerading as a book. There's no narrative flow, weak use of themes and concepts, etc. instead, it's lots of "On this date this person did this thing. Then on this date, this happened". I read quite a bit of history books so I have a pretty substantial frame of reference for the genre.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is crammed with dates and names that I wasn't familiar with. Nicolae Klepper makes it all very readable, though. Each chapter could easily be expanded into a book. I learned a lot, and have a greater appreciation for Romania's pivotal role in European history.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 1 out of 5]

A warning of how bad this book was going to be was clear: the author, a Romanian who lives in Scotland (why not Romania, Nicu?) and is not a historian. Tellingly, he blunders his way through thousands of years of Romanian history without a clue for an organizing principle. I really wanted to like this book. I traveled through Romania for like a week 15 years and thought it was the poop-chute of the world. I really did so try to like it. I thought this book might change that, but it just made me loath it more. Goddamn.

[Krisette Spangler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book weighs in at 260 pages, which is very short for a complete history of a country. However, it's the brevity of the book that makes it so accessible. There were times, when I wished I could get a little more information about a certain subject, but overall I enjoyed the book. Romania has a very troubled history. It was interesting to read about how their language evolved, and of course, there's Vlad the Impaler, to add a little flavor to their past. I recommend this novel for anyone who would like a very abbreviated history of this country.

[Andreas Michaelides · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice short History of Romania from the Neolithic age until events that occurred ten years ago.
The fact that the writer did not lived in Romania is obvious in the book since the description of events lack a personal touch.
On the other hand that’s a good thing because he counted and describes the events with an objectivity that is crucial when you mention historical facts, this way you let the reader make its own conclusion and this book sure achieve that.
Nice read, never a dull moment, if you really want to have a crash course in Romanian History this is the book for you.