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This monograph is the first attempt in Bulgarian historiography (and still one of the very few endeavors in Europe) to investigate the origins of state policy toward population and the family in Eastern Europe. The work reconstructs the evolution of state legislation in the field of social policy toward the family in Bulgaria between the two World Wars, colored by concerns about the national good and demographic considerations. It sets the laws regarding family welfare in their framework of a distinctively cultural, historical and political discourse to follow the motives behind the legislative initiatives. ... Read more

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This book was written in 1915.This was a time that saw many significant events that affected the Balkans.Written by four different authors from different locations, here is their preface to “The Balkans”.

PREFACE

The authors of this volume have not worked in conjunction. Widely separated, engaged on other duties, and pressed for time, we have had no opportunity for interchange of views. Each must be held responsible, therefore, for his own section alone. If there be any discrepancies in our writings (it is not unlikely in so disputed a field of history) we can only regret an unfortunate result of the circumstances. Owing to rapid change in the relations of our country to the several Balkan peoples, the tone of a section written earlier may differ from that of another written later. It may be well to state that the sections on Serbia and Bulgaria were finished before the decisive Balkan developments of the past two months. Those on Greece and Rumania represent only a little later stage of the evolution. That on Turkey, compiled between one mission abroad and another, was the latest to be finished.

If our sympathies are not all the same, or given equally to friends and foes, none of us would find it possible to indite a Hymn of Hate about any Balkan people. Every one of these peoples, on whatever side he be fighting to-day, has a past worthy of more than our respect and interwoven in some intimate way with our history. That any one of them is arrayed against us to-day is not to be laid entirely or chiefly at its own door. They are all fine peoples who have not obtained their proper places in the sun. ... Read more

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One of the most terrible legacies of our century is the concentration camp. Countless men and women have passed through camps in Nazi Germany, Communist China, and the Soviet bloc countries. In Voices from the Gulag, Tzvetan Todorov singles out the experience of one country where the concentration camps were particularly brutal and emblematic of the horrors of totalitarianism--communist Bulgaria. The voices we hear in this book are mostly from Lovech, a rock quarry in Bulgaria that became the final destination for several thousand men and women during its years of operation from 1959 to 1962. The inmates, though drawn from various social, professional, and economic backgrounds, shared a common fate: they were torn from their homes by secret police, brutally beaten, charged with fictitious crimes, and shipped to Lovech. Once there, they were forced to endure backbreaking labor, inadequate clothing, shelter, and food, systematic beatings, and institutionalized torture.We also hear from guards, commandants, and bureaucrats whose lives were bound together with the inmates in an absurd drama. Regardless of their grade and duties, all agree that those responsible for these "excesses" were above or below them, yet never they themselves. Accountability is thereby diffused through the many strata of the state apparatus, providing legal defenses and "clear" consciences. Yet, as the concluding section of interviews--with the children and wives of the victims--reminds us, accountability is a moral and historical imperative.The testimonies in Voices from the Gulag were written specifically for this volume or have been published in the Bulgarian press or on Bulgarian television. Todorov compiled them for this book and has written an introductory essay--a lucid and troubling analysis of totalitarianism and the role that terror and the concentration camp play in such a world. He reflects upon his own experience living in Bulgaria during the years when Lovech was in operation. It is through that experience that Todorov has sought to understand the totalitarian horrors of our century.Although Lovech and the other camps of Soviet Russia and Eastern Europe have been closed down, concentration camps still exist in the countries whose communist regimes remain in power--Vietnam, China, North Korea, and Cuba. The voices in this book remind us that we are never completely safe from the threat of totalitarianism, a threat that we all must face. As Todorov writes, "I cannot say that these stories do not concern me." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Lies, lies, lies
Ha-ha, this guy is a piece of work, isn't he? I am a Bulgarian, and have lived in Bulgaria during Communism, as opposed to this so-called historian. While it is true that Communism was not a picnic, the "historians", especially in the West greatly exagerate the facts.
Yes, the camps existed, but the vast majority of their population were criminal and not political prisoners.
No, Bulgaria did not have dissidents. The so-called dissidents appeared a week after the Berlin Wall fell.
Do not read this book, it is a loss of time and money.

Pretentious, unscholarly and simply WRONG
The author T. Todorov is a Bulgarian living in France and working as a Historian there. I first ran across his lack of professionalism in my historiography class at Harvard University. He is an 'expert', in ancient Meso-American cultures (if I remember correctly) but tries to voice opinions on all human history in every period and geographical regions. Among professional historians in the West you will not find one person who takes him seriously because he talks about things he does not know about.

This book is a perfect example. There is a cottage industry in the West among pseudoscholars, in institutes paid by powerful interests, to spit on every country which used to be socialist or member of the Warsaw pact. The more spit the better. You'll get your book published and so on. I won't even mention my research because even a resume will take 20 pages. But I will state for the record: this book is nothing more than a commercial "common sense" for every spineless, onanistic pseudoscholar in a Western university. People who have not lived in Bulgaria during socialism and who know nothing about the system might swallow the bait.

Todorov is a hack, just like so many who make their living his way.

If you want to be scared out of your wits...read this book!
This book terrified me in its magnification of horrors and atrocities suffered by those in the Communist gulag.What evil was perpetrated on millions of innocent lives during this time.Read this book and you will never forget the gruesome images, the agonizing despair felt by the inmates of these bloody camps.Anyone who thinks that Communism and Socialism are beautiful ideologies should read the accounts of those who lived under such glorious regimes as Stalin and Hitler!

Gruesome and sickening
This book contains the first hand accounts of many of the people involved in the work camps of Belene and Lovech. Belene is an island located on the Danube where one of the first work camps began. It still functions as a prison today. Lovech was started when 160 men went on hunger strike in Belene. Many of the prisoners were tortured and beaten to death. After death, their bodies were fed to pigs.

The horrific first hand accounts contained in this work documents not only the victims but also their families and the directors and guards at the camp (almost all of which are still deny their involvement and none of which have been brought to justice)

What is most disturbing is not so much that something similiar to theNazi camps occured in Bulgaria but the fact that noone has had to pay for what they did. This book serves notice to the world that not only did atrocities such as this occur after WWII but that they are still occcuring in Vietnam and other places and will continue to occur as long as we allow it.

The only real deficiency in this book is that it doesn't have any accounts from any gypsies or Turks who undoubtly recieved worse treatment at the hands of the Bulgarian communist party.Also many of the accounts were right after the fall of communism. Having personally talked with some former inmates of Belene and Lovech I cannot help to think that many were still scared to speak out and that many equally horrible events remain uncovered. As one inmate put it "Even now there are very few people willing to talk about their experiences in the campss.They're still afraid! I am too. Yes I'm afraid, but my sons are now grown up and can fend for themselves. So why should I be afraid? Because the gun is still loaded in the hands of old men who won't hesitate to fire.Thus it was and still is in Bulgaria.

The Forgotten Gulag
Todorov's book is a great read for both students of East European history and political violence. The book is a careful compilation and editing of recently published memoirs and TV documentaries that reveal the brutalityof the Communist concentration camps. The book catalogues the senselesssuffering of many of the victims of Communism, not because they weredissidents, but because they knew a Western language or liked rock androll. Todorov also gives us the views of the prison guards and partyfunctionaries and carefully details their duplicity and self-justification.Overall, it is a powerful book that fills an important gap in our knowledgeabout gulags in other countries besides the ex-USSR as well as reminds usof the brutality of the Communist system. ... Read more

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War correspondent?s graphic view of the 1877 war between Russia and Turkey that led to the liberation of Bulgaria after centuries of Ottoman rule. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good concise overview
Combines an overview of the whole conflict with the author's personal experiences covering the conflict. Free of the academic speak and political correctness which mars too many recent historical accounts. ... Read more

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Stalin's Cold War presents a highly original analysis of the Soviet leader's role in the gestation of the Cold War. Drawing on rich new evidence from Soviet, East European and British archives, the book offers fresh and illuminating insights into the evolution of Stalin's strategy in the transition from cooperation with the United States and Britain during World War II to ideological and geopolitical confrontation. The book reveals Stalin's efforts to grapple with the dynamic interaction between democratic and communist parties in the domestic politics of European countries in the aftermath of World War II, and his key role in the gradual but inexorable shift towards communist monopoly of power in the countries of Eastern Europe. ... Read more

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An fantastic ethnographic examination of gender and Islam in the Balkans
An excellent book for advanced undergraduate classes and graduate seminars on Islam and gender, Islam after communism, postsocialist politics and the anthropology of Europe.The book examines the complex web of factors changing the face of Islam in Bulgaria today told through the lives of ordinary Muslim men and women in the first decade of the 21st century. ... Read more

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Like the other members of the extinct Warsaw Pact, Bulgaria has been immersed in reconstructing its economy and building a democratic government. At the same time, it is reforging national unity despite large religious and ethnic minorities at home and Bulgarian minorities abroad. The "Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria" is the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference work on this Balkan nation. It offers scholars a handy source on the important personalities, political parties, administrative structures, and recent events that are shaping the new Bulgaria. The dictionary's concise entries also describe the important people, places, and events in its past, as well as its economy, society, and culture. A selective bibliography allows access to further sources of information. This easy-to-use reference work also includes a chronology of Bulgarian history, a transliteration scheme for Cyrillic script, and lists of Bulgarian rulers, cabinets, and political parties and organizations. It provides an essential starting point for anyone interested in conducting research on the history or economic and political development of this Eastern European nation, and it will prove to be an invaluable reference tool. ... Read more

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Examines the people, religion, daily life, politics, culture, history, and geography of Bulgaria, emphasizing its transition from a communist to a free nation. ... Read more

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"Instructed in the autumn of 1912 to join the Bulgarian army, then mobilising for war against Turkey, as war correspondent for the _London Morning Post_, I made my preparations with the thought uppermost that I was going to a cut-throat country where massacre was the national sport and human life was regarded with no sentimental degree of respect. The Bulgarians, a generation ago, had been paraded before the eyes of the British people by the fiery eloquence of Mr. Gladstone as a deeply suffering people, wretched victims of Turkish atrocities. After the wide sympathy that followed his Bulgarian Atrocities campaign there came a strong reaction. It was maintained that the Bulgarians were by no means the blameless victims of the Turks; and could themselves initiate massacres as well as suffer from them. Some even charged that there was a good deal of party spirit to account for the heat of Mr. Gladstone''s championship. I think that the average British opinion in 1912 was that, regarding the quarrels between Bulgar and Turk, there was a great deal to be said against both sides; and that no Balkan people was worth a moment''s sentimental worry. Let dogs delight to bark and bite, for ''tis their nature to, expressed the common view when one heard that there had been murders and village-burnings again in the Balkans. " ... Read more

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The first in a series of five volumes of inventories of 'First Neolithic Sites' in Europe. The series will consist of I) Bulgaria, II) Romania, III) Eastern Hungary, IV) Eastern Slovakia, V) Southeastern Poland. The main themes of each volume will be: 1) General information about cultural evolution at the onset of the Neolithic, 2) Additional data on cultural and economic problems specific for a given region, 3) A list of radiometric dates, 4) A catalogue of sites in alphabetical order. Contents of volume I: 1) Early Neolithic Cultures on the territory of Bulgaria (Yavor D. Boyadzhiev); 2) Lithic production of the earliest Neolithic on the territory of Bulgaria (Ivan Gatsov and Petranka Nedelcheva); 3) Flint raw materials in Bulgaria (Chavdar Nachev); 4) Plant economy and vegetation during the Early Neolithic of Bulgaria (Elena Marinova); 5) Catalogue of the Early Neolithic settlements on the territory of Bulgaria (Ekaterina Stamboliyska and Zhivko Uzunov). ... Read more

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Support of the Ottoman Empire was official British policy for some 40 years following the Crimean War. A widespread confidence prevailed in England: whatever past and continuing deficiencies might exist, the Ottoman Porte, as the government of the Empire was known in Europe, was determined to westernize and in fact was becoming more British every day. But reports of a series of alleged massacres by the Turks against their Bulgarian subjects scandalized Britain in 1876, igniting a firestorm of protest that shook the nation. "Reluctant Icon" tells the story of one of the social crusades of the Victorian era. Under the leadership of former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, a loose coalition of Nonconformists, Radicals, and High Churchmen created a climate of indignation over the massacres that was strong enough to call into question the Disraeli government's policy toward the Near East. This analysis draws on contemporary newspaper accounts, parliamentary petitions, and the diaries and personal papers of Gladstone to recreate a pivotal episode in late 19th-century British history.Saab provides an historical backdrop to her study by tracing the multiple sources of strain in British-Ottoman relations that existed before the massacres. She then examines Gladstone's evolving role as public idol and backstage adviser to a coterie of special groups that became bonded to him by a shared moral vision and a sense of continuing emergency. Through the lens of the Bulgarian agitation, Gladstone emerges as a man motivated more by his own complex emotional and political drives than by opportunism, a somewhat different picture from that presented by earlier historians. The heart of the book is Saab's exploration of the nascence and maturation of the militant, extraparliamentary, multiclass protest movement itself, which mobilized the anger of groups previously outside politics such as newly enfranchised working men. "Reluctant Icon" yields insights on Gladstone, on the language of Victorian social protest, and on a national protest movement remarkable as much for its cohesiveness and longevity as for its fervour. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Half baked bread
This book may very likely have been well-written in the original Bulgarian. However the English translation is one of the most pathetic I have ever come across! A few examples: "second biggest city", "relatively plentiful", "sward of the king", "culture was provincial rather than aristocratic." Apart from typoes, the above examples leave several statements in the book meaningless or self-contradicting. No foot notes, no indexes, and no bibliography leaves this meager work useful only for leasure read or for children. I give it 3 stars for being one of the few Bulgarian historical works in translation. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more