You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This is not an ordinary history book. As readers will realise quite early on, Neagu Djuvara has the audacity to tackle some of the most delicate and controversial issues in Romanian history under the guise of light storytelling. With the addition of illustrations, the book becomes better and easier to understand: we are offered the chance to see how ancient artefacts discovered by archaeologists actually look like, or catch a glimpse of the world of barbarians and medieval warriors depicted in wonderful illuminated manuscripts. As we get nearer to the modern age, the imagery becomes even richer and we get to know Romania's princes and monarchs, their allies and their enemies, the politicians...
This book presents captivating stories about Romania's past in the larger context of European and world history. Prof. Djuvara sets aside the academic tone to recount the story of Romanians, without taboos or prejudices. Common misunderstandings are brought to light and clarified, such as the story of Vlad the Impaler and the role played by Romania in World War II. Read about the wars between Dacia and Rome, barbarian invasions, the assimilation of other populations, the complex history of Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia and about great sacrifices made in defense of Christianity. This translation published by Cross Meridian (Canada) is dedicated to young people of Romanian descent who live in countries where English is spoken or understood.
Romania occupies a unique position on the map of Eastern Europe. It is a country that presents many paradoxes. In this book the preeminent Romanian historian Lucian Boia examines his native land's development from the Middle Ages to modern times, delineating its culture, history, language, politics and ethnic identity. Boia introduces us to the heroes and myths of Romanian history, and provides an enlightening account of the history of Romanian Communism. He shows how modernization and the influence of the West have divided the nation - town versus country, nationalists versus pro-European factions, the elite versus the masses - and argues that Romania today is in chronic difficulty as it tries to fix its identity and envision a future for itself. The book concludes with a tour of Bucharest, whose houses, streets and public monuments embody Romania's traditional values and contemporary contradictions.
Making use of legal and historical sources, Viorel Panaite analyzes the status of tribute-payers from the north of the Danube with reference to Ottoman law of peace and war. He deals with the impact of Ottoman holy war and the way conquest in Southeast Europe took place; the role of temporary covenants, imperial diplomas and customary norms in outlining the rights and duties of the tributary princes; the power relations between the Ottoman Empire and the tributary-protected principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania. He also focuses on the legal and political methods applied to extend the pax ottomanica system in the area, rather than on the elements that set these territories apart from the rest of the Ottoman Empire.
And, in the shadow of the major civilization, before it disappeared in its turn, how many other cultures have perished without a trace? This immense tragedy is being lived now by many cultures, with great intensity. One has to belong to such a culture in course of extinction or dying slowly even before its flourishing, to understand the infinite distress of those who are helplessly watching the inexorable disappearance of their most precious values. With each dying culture, it is a unique flower that is withering never to bloom again, an incomparable fragrance that fades away forever. There is in the smallest idioms, there is in the “Weltanschauung” of the smallest tribe doomed to extinc...
Oltenia, southern Romania. Border with the Ottoman Empire in which Vlad the impaler fought and buil. This book, written by prominent Romanian historian Neagu Djuvara is an amazing story about an Orthodox religious architecture of the eastern regions of European Christianity. It is accompanied by documentary photographs of high quality that will help the reader understand the richness of its architecture and painting.
This work addresses the Islamic notion of Holy War and its interpretation and application by the Ottoman Empire against Roman Principalities in the 15th to 18th centuries. Inextricably connected to Islamic law, the objectives of Islam's Holy War are starkly distunguished from those of mere war with the sword, where military actions are determined by political interests and economic gain.