The Danube

February 1, 2014

BBC correspondent and author ('89: The Unfinished Revolution) Thorpe is based in Budapest, Hungary, where he has lived for more than half his life. For this book, he traveled up the Danube, exploring the river that both separates and connects so many countries that Westerners generally know so little about: Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia are some of the countries with a rich history on the banks and in the waters of the Danube, which flows from the Black Forest of Germany to the Black Sea. The Dacian vineyards of Romania were once tapped by the Greeks for their wine, before the Romans arrived through the Iron Gates gorge, following the Emperor Trajan. Today, fishermen are still relying on the Danube, though fish populations are threatened, and shepherds still move their sheep among pastures, but many villages have lost their younger people. Like the sturgeon moving upriver, many leave the eastern Danube region to find work in the West. Balkan wars and the Iron Curtain have left their mark on the Danube and its people, and Thorpe explores the conflicts and the scars that remain. VERDICT Thorpe's navigation of the Danube is a revealing, informative, and engaging journey.--Melissa Stearns, Franklin Pierce Univ. Lib., Rindge, NH

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
While most non-Europeans can't be blamed for presuming a gloomy view of remote Eastern Europe, many of these same people also sense mysteryread, Transylvaniaas well as foundational culture in a region often perceived in grim, Soviet Bloc terms. And this book takes us there, honestly and up-to-date. Members of the gravely marginalized Roma ethnic group, for example, plead with their brethren not to make predatory loans to fellow Roma who crave plasma TVs. But make no mistake, this book is fiber, as BBC correspondent and longtime Budapest resident Thorpe wades through the expected, deeply historical settings. Or maybe this history, along with the many, often wondrously spontaneous interviews, says otherwise. Maybe the prevalence of disappointment over hope and success is just honest. Maybe the astounding cruelty of wartime atrocities, the river-decimating chemical spills, and the complacency of yet another hydroelectric dam is our little chance to respond to grinding forces. Still, these densities can weary. Thorpe is a strong, detailed writer, but his many museum visits and woeful stories wouldn't suffer from leavening.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)