Romania's National Day: Books to consider for the upcoming break

The upcoming break occasioned by the public holidays of November 30 and December 1 can also be an opportunity to do some reading on Romania topics. We outline below some suggestions, from recent history books to translated Romanian fiction and personal accounts of experiences in the country.

Children of the Night. The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania by Paul Kenyon

Paul Kenyon, an award-winning journalist who reported from danger zones around the world, first arrived in Romania in 1994 "as an adventurer-correspondent of the old school." The country piqued his interest and, having personal reasons to return as well, he kept coming back to Romania over the years. He calls Romania "the most beautiful and misunderstood country in all of Europe," and his 2021 book Children of the Night, recently released in Romanian translation, takes readers through the country's history, with a focus on the 20th century and some of its leaders. In a "gallery of bizarre characters and movements," the book showcases figures such as King Carol II, the antisemitic Iron Guard leader Corneliu Codreanu, general Ion Antonescu, who oversaw two successive wartime dictatorships, and Nicolae Ceaușescu. More on the book here.

In Search of Romania by Dennis Deletant

Historian Dennis Deletant, who this May received Romanian citizenship, published this year another book on Romania, chronicling his first-hand experience of the country during the Communist era. In Search of Romania invites readers to ponder life under Ceaușescu's dictatorship, with all the challenges individuals had to face, the role of oppressive institutions like the political police Securitate, and the legacy of that era in the country's transition to democracy.

Deletant's other books on the country include Romania under Communist Rule; Ceauşescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-89;Communist Terror in Romania: Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police State, 1948-65;Hitler's Forgotten Ally. Ion Antonescu and his Regime, Romania, 1940-1944; and British Clandestine Activities in Romania during the Second World War.

Romania's Holy War: Soldiers, Motivation, and the Holocaust by Grant T. Harward