These volumes of a three-volume history of Transylvania are designed to present Transylvanian history in a European context and with due attention to Transylvania's links to Hungary, the Habsburg Empire, the Romanian Principalities, Turkey and other states of Europe. The comparative approach is also prominent in the presentation of Transylvania's internal affairs in that the authors address the history--demographic, economic, social, political and cultural--of the three major national groups: Romanian, Hungarian, and Saxon.

This book tells the little known story of Dacia, the powerful and rich land that became Transylvania and Romania. This kingdom was once the cornerstone of Eastern Europe. By A.D. 1, Dacia was the third largest military power in Europe, after the Romans and Germans. Most historians mistook the Dacians for Sarmatians, Scythians, even Slavs. This book revives the Dacian history and contributes to our understanding of the region as it is today. The wars, economy, and traditions of this Transylvanian land permeate the geopolitics of today's Balkan countries. To understand what is happening today in Modern Europe, we need to return to the study of this area. This book provides the context for the invasions that molded the Balkan and Eastern European nations that continue to redraw their borders and impose ethnic domination on each other.

Based on the idea that there is a considerable difference between reality and discourse, the author points out that history is constantly reconstructed, adapted and sometimes mythicized from the perspectives of the present day, present states of mind and ideologies. He closely examines historical culture and conscience in nineteenth and twentieth century Romania, particularly concentrating on the impact of the national ideology on history. Boia's innovative analysis identifies several key mythical configurations and shows how Romanians have reconstituted their own highly ideologized history over the last two centuries. The strength of History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness lies in the author's ability to fully deconstruct the entire Romanian historiographic system and demonstrate the increasing acuteness of national problems in general, and in particular the exploitation of history to support national ideology.

Transylvanian Saxons The saga of a civilization in 4 parts: colonization, splendor, decline and today's touristic heritage Underdeveloped country seeking investors – this was the slogan of Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism. Like flowers competing for pollinators, its states outdid each other in advertising economic privileges and legislative facilities to attract Western investors. The different governments which took turns in the last 15 years in the Victoria Palace from Bucharest did not bothered to go beyond mere declarations of good intentions; but, while TV channels broadcast their formal speeches, the exodus was underway for the most enterprising part of the population, the only one related to the West: Transylvania's German guests.The Saxons: 800 years of history in Transylvania800 years ago, like managers looking for personnel to recruit, the first Hungarian kings invited guests from the West to develop the Transylvania they were gradually conquering. Although it lay at the edge of the known world, the Saxons let themselves be lured by this promised land, a natural fortress full of riches, with the Carpathians for walls. They came, they worked, and they built in Transylvania a civilization which reached its apogee in the sixteenth century. Pandora's Box opened wide for the Saxons after the Second World War, too. Less than 15.000 stayed in Romania. Most of them returned to the West, seeking the same thing that had brought their ancestors here: prosperity. Their heritage, however, remains and calls us to discover it.The Rise and Fall of Saxon Transylvania is a concise journalistic of the Saxon civilization, following its history through:• The Colonization: The Promised Land. Like managers with vacancies in the organizational chart, the first Hungarian kings invited guests from the West to develop a Transylvania that was in process of being conquered.• The Rise: Sibiu, Grand Square, no. 8. The Hecht House was the home of a great medieval merchant. Its metamorphoses and the series of its owners shape the story of the rise of the Transylvanian Saxons.• The Decline: Pandora's box. The star of the Saxons began to fade in the 18th century, when they failed to obtain the 23rd validation of their privileges. In the era of nationalism, they dealt with a new kind of ruler – the nation state – who was determined to assimilate them at any cost.• The present: Romania's German heritage. The majority of the Saxons returned to the West, seeking the same thing that had brought their ancestors here: prosperity. Their heritage, however, remains and calls us to discover it.Dear Reader – stop here for a second, please!You should know from the very beginning this is not an exhaustive, academic paper. Author Catalin Gruia is a veteran journalist who has written and reported for the Romanian edition of National Geographic for over 10 years. What you'll find here is a concise journalistic account of the Saxon civilization."For almost a year and a half, I traded in Bucharest for a little country house in Mures. During that time, taking advantage of the trips in which I followed the Saxons' traces for a National Geographic documentary, I discovered in Transylvania a foreign country. And I fell in love with Siebenbürgen!"* For behind the scenes information about Gruia's books -->www.catalingruia.com

The Saxons of Transylvania' documents a fading civilization with a mix of archival images, new photographs, illustrations and storytelling. In their second book photographed in Romania, Martínez + Sáez focus on ethnic German Saxons returning to Transylvania to preserve their distinct culture and heritage built over eight centuries. Indigenous to the region, their conflicted story is told through legend and history, and with current texts, revealing an uncertain future for what is now a dispersed group of people.