Download or read book Never Mind the Balkans Here s Romania written by Mike Ormsby and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2012-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 57 bittersweet stories offering a unique glimpse of this irresistible and enthralling country, where locals say, "Ca la noi, la nimeni. There's nobody quite like us." Ormsby's colourful characters will entertain, educate and enrage. It usually depends on who is reading. Close your guide book, meet the people.
Download or read book Never Mind the Vampires Here s Transylvania written by Mike Ormsby and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After twenty years of living in cities around the world, British writer Mike Ormsby settles in a tiny village in Romania's fabled Transylvania, where the air is clean, the scenery spectacular, and solitude a balm for the soul. But Mike and his wife Angela discover that their learning curve is as steep as a Carpathian slope. Following his critically acclaimed 2008 debut 'Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania', Mike returns with his inimitable wit and sense of wonder. Join him in Transylvania. And never mind the vampires."Gives an absolutely spot-on sense of rural life in a changing Transylvania, with cutting insights and wry humour." Tim Burford, Author, The Rough Guide to Romania"Poignant, immediate, always original. Ormsby is the perfect guide." Robin Ashenden, Central and Eastern European London Review"The modern world is turning rural Romania upside down and inside out. Mike Ormsby captures well the agony and ecstasy of this transition." William Blacker, Author, 'Along The Enchanted Way' "An excellent blend of dialogue, wit, and irony." Dr Gabriela Colipca-Ciobanu, Associate Professor, Dunarea de Jos University"Sublime." Craig Turp, Editor, Bucharest in Your Pocket
Download or read book Balkan Ghosts written by Robert D. Kaplan and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the assassination that triggered World War I to the ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, the Balkans have been the crucible of the twentieth century, the place where terrorism and genocide first became tools of policy. Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, and greeted with critical acclaim as "the most insightful and timely work on the Balkans to date" (The Boston Globe), Kaplan's prescient, enthralling, and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic. This new edition of Balkan Ghosts includes six opinion pieces written by Robert Kaplan about the Balkans between 1996 and 2000 beginning just after the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords and ending after the conclusion of the Kosovo war, with the removal of Slobodan Milosevic from power.
Download or read book The Mountains of Romania written by Janneke Klop and published by Cicerone Press. This book was released on 2020-02-15 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide describes 27 short treks of 2-6 days and 10 day walks in the mountains of Romania. Although there is a slight focus on Transylvania, most of the main massifs are included, with chapters covering the Mountains of Maramures, the Eastern Carpathians, the mountains around Brasov, the Fagara?, the region between the Olt and the Jiu, the Retezat, the mountains of Banat and the Apuseni. Also included is an ascent of Moldoveanu, Romania's highest peak at 2544m. There is a wealth of advice to help you plan your trip and organise the logistics of your walk or trek. Some routes avail of the network of mountain huts; others offer opportunities to camp in attractive wild locations. Overviews and a route summary table make it easy to choose an appropriate excursion. Each route includes clear description and mapping, as well as notes on accommodation and access (some can be accessed by public transport, although others require either pre-arranged pick-up or hitchhiking). There are fascinating insights into Romania's colourful culture and history and appendices containing hut listings, useful contacts and a helpful glossary. The graded routes are as varied as Romania's diverse landscapes. They take in rolling hills, craggy karst peaks, glacial lakes and Europe's last virgin forests, with other highlights including Transylvanian castles, wooden churches, the Piatra Craiului ridge and the spectacular Sapte Scari (Seven Ladders) and Turda Gorges. Historic towns such as the medieval towns of Brasov and Sibiu and the spa resort of Vatra Dornei offer easy access to the mountains; other routes visit remote villages that have changed little over the centuries, where self-sufficiency is still very much the way of life. All in all, the guide is a perfect companion to discovering the unspoilt beauty of Romania's enchanting mountain regions.
Download or read book Eastward to Tartary written by Robert D. Kaplan and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-11-12 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eastward to Tartary, Robert Kaplan's first book to focus on a single region since his bestselling Balkan Ghosts, introduces readers to an explosive and little-known part of the world destined to become a tinderbox of the future. Kaplan takes us on a spellbinding journey into the heart of a volatile region, stretching from Hungary and Romania to the far shores of the oil-rich Caspian Sea. Through dramatic stories of unforgettable characters, Kaplan illuminates the tragic history of this unstable area that he describes as the new fault line between East and West. He ventures from Turkey, Syria, and Israel to the turbulent countries of the Caucasus, from the newly rich city of Baku to the deserts of Turkmenistan and the killing fields of Armenia. The result is must reading for anyone concerned about the state of our world in the decades to come.
Download or read book History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness written by Lucian Boia and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the idea that there is a considerable difference between reality and discourse, the author points out that history is constantly reconstructed, adapted and sometimes mythicized from the perspectives of the present day, present states of mind and ideologies. He closely examines historical culture and conscience in nineteenth and twentieth century Romania, particularly concentrating on the impact of the national ideology on history. Boia's innovative analysis identifies several key mythical configurations and shows how Romanians have reconstituted their own highly ideologized history over the last two centuries. The strength of History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness lies in the author's ability to fully deconstruct the entire Romanian historiographic system and demonstrate the increasing acuteness of national problems in general, and in particular the exploitation of history to support national ideology.
Download or read book Grand Bazar Romania written by Mike Ormsby and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superb Romanian translation by Vlad A. Arghir of "Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania." So, how does it feel when Transylvania is heaven on earth, but scary as hell? When you wake from a political nightmare, with a social headache? When your country is transformed, but not really? When the front door is for VIPs and the back door is for you? When you buy the perfect home in the wrong place? When you mix Thracians, Dacians, Romans, Saxons, Turks, Hungarians, French, Russians and a Brit? Mike Ormsby is a writer, global nomad and former BBC journalist/World Service trainer, whose short stories - funny and bittersweet - have become a cult read among Romanians, Romaniaphiles and the uninitiated around the world. His ironic but affectionate tales, of ordinary people in often-extraordinary circumstances, have earned glowing reviews from Romania's literary critics. Some call him "The British Caragiale," after their beloved Victorian-era playwright and satirist. Each story offers a unique glimpse of this irresistible, dynamic and enthralling country, where the locals say, "Ca la noi, la nimeni: there's nobody quite like us." That's neither boast nor confession, just a fact, and Ormsby's colourful characters will entertain, educate and enrage. It depends on who is reading...
Download or read book In Europe s Shadow written by Robert D. Kaplan and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.
Download or read book Carpathia written by Irina Georgescu and published by White Lion Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Romania is a true cultural melting pot, rooted in Greek and Turkish traditions in the south, Hungarian and Saxon in the north and Slavic in the east and west. Carapathia, the first book from food stylist and cooking enthusiast Irina Georgescu, aims to introduce readers to Romania's bold, inventive and delicious cuisine. Bringing the country to life with stunning photography and recipes, it will take the reader on a culinary journey to the very heart of the Balkans, exploring it's history and landscape through it's traditions and food. From fragrant pilafs, sour borsch and hearty stews, to intricate and moreish desserts, this book celebrates the dishes from a culture living at the crossroads of eastern and western traditions.
Download or read book The Last Hundred Days written by Patrick McGuinness and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-05-22 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once the gleaming "Paris of the East," Bucharest in 1989 is a world of corruption and paranoia, in thrall to the repressive regime of Nicolae Ceau?escu. Old landmarks are falling to demolition crews, grocery shelves are empty, and informants are everywhere. Into this state of crisis, a young British man arrives to take a university post he never interviewed for. He is taken under the wing of Leo O'Heix, a colleague and master of the black market, and falls for the sleek Celia, daughter of a party apparatchik. Yet he soon learns that in this society, friendships are compromised, and loyalty is never absolute. And as the regime's authority falters, he finds himself uncomfortably, then dangerously, close to the eye of the storm. By turns thrilling and satirical, studded with poetry and understated revelation, The Last Hundred Days captures the commonplace terror of Cold War Eastern Europe. Patrick McGuinness's first novel is unforgettable.
Download or read book Mapping Cultural Identities and Intersections written by Mustafa Kirca and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-26 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume investigates identity discourses and self-constructions/de-constructions in various texts through imagological readings of films, narratives, and art works, examining different layers of cultural identities, on the one hand, and measuring the literary reception of ethnic identity constitution to reveal both the self and hetero images, on the other. The book features theoretical and analytical approaches with insights borrowed from multiple disciplines, and mainly focuses on the application of imagological perspectives in the fields of literature and translation, and specifically in literary works “carried over” from one culture to another. It will be of interest for scholars and researchers working in the fields of literature, translation, cultural studies, and imagology, as well as for students studying in these fields.
Download or read book Poland s Memory Wars written by Jo Harper and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-20 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of essays and interviews by Polish, British, and American academics and journalists provides an overview of current Polish politics for both informed and non-specialist readers. The essays consider why and how PiS, Law and Justice, the party of Jarosław Kaczynski, returned to power, and the why and how of its policies while in power. They help to make sense of how “history” plays a key role in Polish public life and politics. The descriptions of PiS in Western media tend to rework old stereotypes about Eastern Europe that had lain dormant for some time. The book addresses the underlying question whether PiS was simply successful in understanding its electorate, and just helped Poland to revert to its normal state. This new Normal seems quite similar to the old one: insular, conservative, xenophobic, and statist. The book looks at the current struggle between one ‘Poland’ and another; between a Western-looking Poland and an inward-looking Poland, the former more interested in opening to the world, competing in open markets, and working within the EU, and the latter more concerned with holding onto tradition. The question of illiberalism has gone from an ‘Eastern’ problem (Russia, Turkey, Hungary, etc.) to a global one (Brexit and the U.S. elections). This makes the very specific analysis of Poland’s illiberalism applicable on a broader scale.
Download or read book Vampire Nation written by Toma Longinović and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-12 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes how the rhetoric of Yugoslav intellectuals and politicians and the U.S.-led Western media and political leadership framed the serbs as metaphorical vampires in the last decades of the twentieth century.
Download or read book Times New Romanian written by Nigel Shakespear and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2014-07-28 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘In Romania anything is possible, everything is impossible, and nothing is ever as it seems.’ Times New Romanian provides a picture of Romania today through the individual first-person narratives of people who chose to go and make a life in this country. Each chapter a voice, each story in Times New Romanian provides readers with a look into the Romanian world – the way things work, the vitality of the people, the living heritage of rural traditions, ordinary life – sometimes dark, sometimes sublime, always interesting. In a land full of character and contradiction, there is a strong attraction for those with the spirit to meet the challenges, where the one thing you can be sure of is the unpredictable. Life is not always easy. These stories will tell you why... If you want to know more about Romanians and their country, the voices in Times New Romanian make for an enjoyable and lively read. Inspired by Studs Terkel and Tony Parker, Nigel used their oral history style and his own experience in Romania to guide him in recording these interviews. Featured in The Bookseller
Download or read book Palincashire written by Mike Ormsby and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Italy has Tuscany, France the Loire, and Romania has Palincashire in beautiful Transylvania. Little known until now, Palincashire is located south of fact and east of fiction. In Palincashire, all your guidebooks come true, and if you believe that you'll believe anything. Following his critically acclaimed 2008 debut, 'Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania', Mike Ormsby returns with his inimitable wit and sense of wonder to put Palincashire on the literary map. Join him in his adopted home!"Funny, moving, beautiful, and true to life." Lucy Abel-Smith, Author, 'Travels in Transylvania' Blue Guide"Affectionate, entertaining, and very funny." Nick Hunt, Author, 'Walking the Woods and the Water'"Mike conjures scenes with a lovely light touch and distinctive humour." Nigel Shakespear, Editor, 'Times New Romanian'"Like 65 proof palinca offered at 10 a.m., these stories fill you with both happiness and sadness." Raluca Feher, Author, 'America Dezgolita de la Brau in Jos'"Humorous affection dusts every finely-honed phrase." Douglas Williams, Editor, OZB magazine"A colourful picture of people, lifestyle, and customs, painted by an Englishman with an exceptional sense of humour." Ruxandra Biro, Reference Librarian, Cluj County Library
Download or read book On the Road to Babadag written by Andrzej Stasiuk and published by HMH. This book was released on 2011-06-16 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journey through Poland, Ukraine, Slovenia, and other places neglected by tourists, with “an accomplished stylist with an eye for telling detail” (Irvine Welsh). Andrzej Stasiuk is a restless and indefatigable traveler. By car, train, bus, and ferry, he goes from his native Poland to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Albania, Moldova, and Ukraine—to small towns and villages with strangely evocative names. “The heart of my Europe,” he tells us, “beats in Sokolów Podlaski and in Huși. It does not beat in Vienna.” In Comrat, a funeral procession moves slowly down the main street, the open coffin on a pickup truck, an old woman dressed in black brushing away the flies above the face of the deceased. In Soroca, he locates a baroque-Byzantine-Tatar-Turkish encampment, to meet Gypsies. And all the way to Babadag, between the Baltic Coast and the Black Sea, Stasiuk indulges his curiosity and his love for the forgotten places and people of Europe. “There isn’t quite a name for the region that holds the Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk in thrall. The general drift is from ‘the land of King Ubu to the land of Count Dracula’, Poland to Romania. . . . Its nucleus is the landlocked centre of Central Europe; its protoplasm spreads like an amoeba through the Balkans. It cannot be convincingly mapped. . . . As travel writing, this is unconventional, but as literature profoundly authentic.” —The Independent (UK) “A mesmerizing, not-to-be-missed trek through a little-visited region of the world.” —Kirkus Reviews “A eulogy for the old Europe, the Europe both in and out of time, the Europe now lost in the folds of the map.” —The Guardian (UK)
Download or read book Dynamic Chess Strategy written by Mihai Suba and published by New In Chess. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this enlarged edition of a modern classic (first published in 1991) on the battle of chess ideas, grandmaster Mihai Suba developed the concept of ?dynamic potential? in modern chess strategy. In improving your position on the board the old strategy principles often lead to conflicting conclusions. Suba takes another view on the meaning of, for example, ?bad positions? and ?quiet moves?, and uses a light touch to explain his ideas. With many entertaining and instructive examples the author explores ?the accumulation of potential? as the modern way to get the advantage. A thought-provoking and yet very practical guide.
