Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite


Book Description

Behr's probing analysis of the historical roots of the Ceausescu dictatorship in Romania goes a long way toward explaining the pathological behavior characterizing the rule of t̀̀he communist Dracula'' and why his regime endured. À̀ man like me, '' Nicolae Ceausescu boasted, c̀̀omes along only once every five hundred years.'' Behr ( Hirohito ) makes clear what manner of man Ceausescu was, how he ruled his country and the important role his wife, Elena, played in the regime. The picture that comes into focus is that of an evil-minded, paranoid and petty couple, at once canny and stupid, who relied on a huge state security apparatus, the Securitate , to spread fear among their extraordinarily submissive subjects. The book includes a full account of the popular uprising in December 1989 and the arrest, trial and execution of the Ceausescus. Behr notes that the bulk of the officers and officials of the Securitate remain in place; thus the dead ''Dracula'' continues to cast his shadow over the land. This is a rare close look at one of the most grotesque of the Communist personality cults.--




The White Pill


Book Description

The Russian Revolution was as red as blood. The Bolsheviks promised that they were building a new society, a workers’ paradise that would change the nature of mankind itself. What they ended up constructing was the largest prison that the world had ever seen, a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that spanned half the globe. It was a country where people's lives meant nothing, less than nothing—and they knew it. But no matter what atrocity that the Soviets committed—the secret police, the torture chambers, the show trials, the labor camps and the mass starvation—there was always someone in the West rushing to justify their bloodshed. For decades it seemed perfectly obvious that the USSR wasn’t going anywhere—until it vanished from the face of the earth, gradually and then suddenly. This is the story of the rise and fall of that evil empire, and why it is so important for the good to never give up hope. This is the white pill.




Red Horizons


Book Description

A former chief of Romania's foreign intelligence service reveals the extraordinary corruption of the Nicolae Ceausescu government of Romania, its brutal machinery of oppression, and its Machiavellian relationship with the West. An in side story of how Communist Party leaders really live.




Orthodoxy and the Cold War


Book Description

Explores the dynamics between Orthodoxy and politics in Romania, providing an accessible narrative on church-state relations from the establishment of the state in 1859 to the rise of Ceau?escu in 1965. The book argues that Romanian national communism had an ally in a strong Church, and analyzes religious diplomacy with actors in the West.




Victory Square


Book Description

From the author of New York Times bestseller The Tourist... The revolutionary politics and chaotic history of life inside Olen Steinhauer's fictionalized Eastern European country have made his literary crime series, with its two Edgar Award nominations along with other critical acclaim, one of today's most acclaimed. Finally having reached the tumultuous 1980s, the series comes full circle as one of the earliest cases of the People's Militia reemerges to torment all of the inspectors, including Emil Brod, now the chief, who was the original detective on the case. His arrest of one of the country's revolutionary leaders in the late 1940s resulted in the politician's conviction and imprisonment, but Emil was too young in those days to understand what it meant to go up against someone so powerful—and win. Only now, in 1989, when he is days from retirement and spends more time looking over his shoulder than ahead, does he realize that what he did may get him—and others—killed. Told against the backdrop of the crumbling forty-year-old government—with the leaders who were so new in the series debut, The Bridge of Sighs—Victory Square is Steinhauer at his best. Once again he masterfully makes crime fiction both personal and political, combining a story of revenge at any cost with a portrait of a country on the brink of collapse.




Lebanon: A House Divided


Book Description

"A beautifully written, often profound account." —Chicago Sun-Times With a new introduction by the author, a seminal study of Lebanon’s past, present, and future. Covering Lebanon's history through the Civil War of 1975—89, Sandra Mackey lays the groundwork needed to comprehend this often ill-understood country—offering insight into its role as the gateway between West and East, and bringing a clarity of focus to the schisms that serve to divide and define Lebanon.




Ruth Benedict


Book Description

Benedict's work, in fact, anticipated trends in anthropology in the decades to come by projecting a framework of individuals not only shaped by their culture but also using their culture for personal or collective objectives."--BOOK JACKET.




Romania


Book Description

This revised work on Romania looks at the country in light of the abandonment of the centrist coalition under Constantinescu. It discusses Romania's relationship with Hungary, it's support for NATO action against Serbia in 1999, and it's struggles to conform to a market-based economy.




Politics and Power in Haiti


Book Description

Examining the political legacies of the Duvalier period and after, and revisiting the work of the late David Nicholls, Politics and Power in Haiti provides some of the keys to understanding the turbulent world of Haitian politics and the persistent challenges at home and from abroad which have distorted development.




TOPSY TURVY


Book Description

TOPSY TURVY: A Book for All in One The author's personal collection of favorite quotations, hopefully to be enjoyed by all who read them.