In Europe's Shadow cover art

In Europe's Shadow

Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond

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In Europe's Shadow

By: Robert D. Kaplan
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
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About this listen

In Bucharest, Romania's capital, Kaplan discovered that few Westerners were reporting on the country - one of the darkest corners of Europe during the Cold War. In an intense and cinematic travelogue, Kaplan explores the history and culture of the only country in the West where the leading intellectuals have been right-wing rather than left-wing; a country that gave rise to the dictator Ion Antonescu, Hitler's chief foreign accomplice during WWII; a country where the Latin West mixes with the Greek East, producing a fascinating fusion of cultures.

In Europe's Shadow is a deep and vivid immersion into one place, a country that is a metaphor for Europe's current challenge in confronting Vladimir Putin's Russia. With the brilliant, insightful Kaplan as our narrator and eyewitness, this book is a shorthand masterpiece about imperialism and a country critical to our understanding of the last century in Europe.

Robert D. Kaplan is the author of 16 books on foreign affairs and travel translated into many languages, including The Revenge of Geography, Monsoon, Balkan Ghosts, and Warrior Politics. He has been a foreign correspondent for The Atlantic for over three decades. In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine named Kaplan among the world's "100 Top Global Thinkers".

©2016 Robert D. Kaplan. Random House, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Eastern Europe Political Science Politics & Government Travel Writing & Commentary World Western Europe War Russia Imperialism Cold War Soviet Union Middle Ages Socialism Middle East Holocaust Self-Determination

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All stars
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This is a super interesting and highly engaging history of Romania. For those who seek to understand the region and Europe a little better, this is an essential listen!

Super interesting!

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clearly written by someone who knows and loves Romania. fascinating and easy to listen to.

Fascinating history lesson

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Past, present and a possible future due to the geopolitical location of Romania. A book that you should read/listen even if you are the biggest Romanian nationalist!

The hard truth!

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Everyone interested in the Romanian history, every Romanian on Audiobook should listen to it. Written by someone who obviously loves Romania and it's people. Some uncomfortable truths, a geopolitical analysis of Romania's position in Europe.

Brilliant

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I liked the bringing alive of the history and geography of Romania and Moldova with toppings of politics and philosophy

Historical geography

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The book tells us a great deal of history and analysis, and that makes it a worthwhile read. It fills out the picture of a little understood region over the last half century. This is vital to grasping what is at stake in the present and near future for Europe.
The structure and the style do not meet the same standard. It often feels like a randomised like of historical facts, personal experience, too many references to other works and meetings with people along the way. This detracts from the intelligent analysis.
The reader handles non English names of people, places and titles disastrously. He tries hard to emphasize the foreignness but has done too little preparation to make a good job. Why he failed to check the pronunciation with an educated source is a mystery.

Interesting observations and interpretation

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Extremely boring, bringing nothing to the table apart from a basic travel log. God knows what the author filled 10 hours with, I could only stomach 1.5.

Trite, not worth the time

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A book version of a Yelp review by a author than comes off as biased on multiple occasions. If you're looking for facts and history, this is not it. But if you're looking for a single person's brief experieces in Romania and a mixture of facts and biases, please buy it. A great part of this book describes the authors 10 days spent in romania during the cold war... in the rest of the book, the Jewish author, spends a great deal of time picking apart Iliade's (a well known Nazi lover)previous history books. Enjoy!

A Yelp Review of Romania

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really poor narrator, difficult to listen to. sounds like the guy had never read the book before being recorded. or he's a robot.

terrible narration

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