Florin Abraham has provided the specialist and the more general reader with a thorough account of Romania at (yet another) crossroads in its history, when the very foundations of state and society as they had been evolving during the preceding century and a half were put at risk. The matter at issue, then, was, as it had always been in modern times, whether the Romanians would cleave to tradition by seeking inspiration in the east, or whether they would embrace change and find their models in “Europe,” that is, the west. Abraham's careful investigation of the period from just before the outbreak of the Second World War through the first twenty-five years of the postcommunist era is, in effect, a case study of a middle-sized country confronting the ambitions of the great European powers. Of course, he also acquaints the reader in detail with the many sides of Romania's political, economic, and social development.

Abraham divides his book into two main parts—the communist regime (1944–89) and, the larger section, what followed its collapse down to 2015. However, he begins with a short introductory chapter that outlines Romania's involvement in the European crisis of 1938–44. He is right to do so because the Second World War brought about the destruction of the Greater Romania that had emerged from the First World War and opened the way to occupation by the Red Army and the communization or, better, sovietization of the country. It was an order of things, as Abraham shows abundantly in subsequent chapters, that the majority of Romanians opposed as best they could within an unyielding totalitarian system.

Abraham offers a balanced examination of communist rule under its two leaders, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1945–65) and Nicolae Ceauşescu (1965–89), and he emphasizes the distinctive features of Communist Party policy and initiatives under each. In domestic affairs, he analyzes the nature and functioning of the Party and political institutions, of the security and prison apparatus, of an economy dominated by the drive to industrialize, of social policy and its failures and achievements, and of the destinies of the diverse churches and the minorities. In foreign policy, he traces the evolution of relations with the Soviet Union, always the paramount issue, from utter subservience to a modest level of autonomy. From his careful investigation of all these matters strong lines of continuity over four decades emerge clearly. No genuine liberalization of the regime, politically, economically, or socially, ever occurred, and the appearance of so-called “national Communism” never led Gheorghiu-Dej or Ceauşescu to cut ties to the Soviet Union. They might eagerly cultivate relations with the west, as Abraham explains, in order to profit from its technologies and attract its investments, but, as internationalist communists, they could never forget that the survival of their regime ultimately depended on support from the east. The rapid collapse of the regime and dissolution of the Party in 1989 reveals to Abraham the bankruptcy of the whole enterprise.

He entitles the post-1989 era, the second part of his book, the “Return to Democracy,” a characterization he justifies by describing the main aspects of political and economic development, the transformations in the organization and spirit of society, and the return of the rule of law. The transition from a totalitarian to a pluralistic system, as he presents it, was by no means smooth, and he admits that corruption became deeply entrenched and that large segments of the population yearned for a return to the social safety net of the communist era. He is particularly adept at describing the general course of politics and at distinguishing among diverse parties and leaders, notably presidents and prime ministers and their respective governments. His whole portrayal of things is of a democracy in the throes of getting its bearings and coping with the new, extensive freedoms—of elections, the press, and association—and with the movement away from a directed economy to one responsive to the market. As for foreign policy, Abraham records, in effect, Romania's “return to Europe,” as successive governments sought political, economic, and cultural allegiances with the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community, including NATO (2004) and the European Union (2007).

The reader has before him in this volume a reliable guide to the politics, economy, and society of Romania since the Second World War. Although Abraham does not give special attention to cultural and intellectual life, he is nonetheless sensitive to the changing moods and styles of the time. The chapters devoted to the postcommunist decades are perhaps the most original part of the book. In the end, Abraham, in effect, invites the reader to meditate on what the communist regime represents in Romanian history: was it the east in a break with the west or another form of modernization?