During this time, the populace was controlled via the Securitate (the Romanian secret police) similar to the Stasi of East Germany. Examples include the stunted development of communism and collectivisation of the rural landscape scarring the psyche of a whole generation while communism was state policy. Through the book, the author describes the interaction with the people with the historical context. The book is split over 3 visits over a short period of a year so we can see the mood of the nation sour from the initial euphoria/optimism of the revolution to the eventual disappointment of return of a milder form of corrupt communism. Starting with Transylvania, she toured the other regions of Romania like Moldovia, Banat and Maramures. Dervla Murphy stumbled onto Transylvania (and Romania) during the fall of the Communist Ceaușescu regime in the late 80s/early 90s.
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