Book excerpt: Constantin C. Giurescu was Romania's leading historian and author of the seminal The History of the Romanian People. His granddaughter's fascinating story of this remarkable man and his family follows their struggles in war-torn Romania from 1900 to the fall of the Soviet Union. An "enlightened" society is dismantled with the 1946 Communist takeover of Romania, and Constantin is confined to the notorious Sighet penitentiary. Drawing on her grandfather's prison diary (which was put in a jar, buried in a yard, then smuggled out of the country by Dr. Paul E. Michelson-who does the FOREWORD for this book), private letters and her own research, Dr. Giurescu writes of the legacy from the turn of the century to the fall of Commu¬nism. We see the rise of modern Romania, the misery of World War I, the blos¬soming of its culture between the wars, and then the sellout of Eastern Europe to Russia after World War II. In this sweeping account, we see not only its effects socially and culturally, but the triumph in its wake: a man and his people who reclaim better lives for themselves, and in the process, teach us a lesson in endurance, patience, and will-"not only to survive, but to thrive.