Ceausescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-1989 FROM THE PUBLISHER
This is the first extensive work in any language on Ceausescu's secret police, the Securitate. From the imposition of Communist rule in Romania in 1945, the organisation and activity of the Securitate remained shrouded in secrecy, and only since the overthrow of Ceausescu in December 1989 has some information become available. This has been published in the Romanian press, but there has been no systematic study of the Securitate's history. Dennis Deletant is the only non-Romanian scholar to have been granted wide access to the Securitate archives and this book is based partly on the fruits of his labours there. He has also drawn on the memoirs, some unpublished, of several victims of the Communist terror of the 1950s, and conducted interviews with many of the prominent dissidents of the Ceausescu regime, some of whom he got to know well during 1980s.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Deletant (Romanian studies, U. of London) provides an extensive history and examination of the Securitate, Ceausescu's secret police. The first two chapters address the methods used to impose Communist rule in Romania and revolutionize Romanian society. Subsequent chapters deal with Transylvania and Ceaucescu's appeals to national sentiment, the role of Bessarabia in cultivating support, compliance and dissent, central planning, repression in the years 1978 to 1989, and the present state of affairs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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