A book that deserves to be read by all those wondering where European Union money is going and why Romanian village dwellers continue to vote for people and parties that bear the responsibility of keeping them poor. The appeal issued by British weekly The Economist accompanies the review of “A Tale of Two Villages: Coerced Modernization in the Eastern Europe Country Side “, a new book by Alina Mungiu Pippidi, nominated for Book of The Week in the current issue.
Published in Romania in 2004 under the title, “Secera şi buldozerul. Scorniceşti şi Nucşoara. Mecanisme de aservire a ţăranului român” (“The Sickle and the Bulldozer. Scornicesti and Nucsoara. Bondage Mechanisms against the Romanian Peasant”), the book can also be read online here.