The period leading up to the unification of the Romanian principalities is one of the most dynamic periods in modern Romanian history. It was a time of effervescence, which witnessed the birth of new ideas and the struggle between revolution and reaction. The Romanian principalities, located on the crossroads between East and West, were at the center of the conflict between the various empires dominating Southeastern Europe, making them a permanent subject of international diplomacy. With the expansion of Russia in the Balkans, amidst the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the struggle against Russia in the Romanian principalities, supported by Anglo-Turkish diplomacy, took on international significance. Written by one of the leading specialists on Romanian history in the United States, The Struggle Against Russia in the Romanian Principalities is a significant contribution to nineteenth century European diplomatic history.

This book honors Cornelia Bodea, academician, scholar, professor, teacher, and, above all, friend and colleague to three generations of American and British students of the Romanian past and culture. The studies in this volume, apart from two contributions dedicated to the work of Cornelia Bodea, are arranged in chronological order. They range from an effort to elucidate the image of Napoleon, as seen by Polish participants in Napoleon's failed Russia invasion, a study on the development of the Albanian national consciousness, in which Romania also played a role, an illuminating study of the image of Romania found in the classic eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, World War I, British cultural policy in Romania, post-World War II Romanian-American relations, and a study of the Transnistrian dispute. The scope of these studies reflects the range of Cornelia Bodea's own work, which has dealt with grand themes of Romanian national development, cultural history, and Romanian diplomatic history. She combined painstaking discovery and elaboration of apparently small, but significant details along with the publication of important documentary and other resource materials. Academician Cornelia Bodea passed away in 2010. Contributors to this volume include Dennis Deletant, Radu R. Florescu, Richard Frucht, Joseph Harrington, Ernest H. Latham, Jr., Paul E. Michelson, and Kurt W. Treptow.

This engrossing book tells the story of the Florescu family, from its feudal blood ties, to the notorious 15th century figure Vlad Tepes (Count Dracula), right up to present day, touching on such diverse personalities as the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, and Michael Jackson. In the tradition of Alex Haley's Roots, Dracula's Bloodline relates a multi-generational saga through the prism of one family's narrative, from medieval Eastern Europe to the post-Communist era. The book provides an inside look at Romania's bloody and turbulent history-a mostly untold narrative that embraces the cruel Ottoman invasions, vying boyars seeking to change the political order at home, and the toppling of the Ceausescu regime. The story of each century is told through the eyes of one Florescu (or more) who had a unique perch from which to view his or her contemporary society. Florescu and Cazacu drew on research that had mostly been kept in family hands. To track the Florescu footprint down through the centuries since the 1400s, they used many sources: the Brasov archives in Transylvania, select letters, unpublished diaries, and extensive family documents that have been scattered from Europe to the United States. This fully indexed book offers many photographs from family archives, as well as a glossary of terms and titles, and a full genealogy showing the Florescu's family links to Vlad Tepes.