Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780679737438)

A masterful work of personal reportage, this volume is also a vibrant portrait of a mysterious people and an essential document of a disappearing culture.

Fabled, feared, romanticized, and reviled, the Gypsies--or Roma--are among the least understood people on earth. Their culture remains largely obscure, but in Isabel Fonseca they have found an eloquent witness.

In Bury Me Standing, alongside unforgettable portraits of individuals--the poet, the politician, the child prostitute--Fonseca offers sharp insights into the humor, language, wisdom, and taboos of the Roma. She traces their exodus out of India 1,000 years ago and their astonishing history of persecution: enslaved by the princes of medieval Romania; massacred by the Nazis; forcibly assimilated by the communist regimes; evicted from their settlements in Eastern Europe, and most recently, in Western Europe as well. Whether as handy scapegoats or figments of the romantic imagination, the Gypsies have always been with us--but never before have they been brought so vividly to life.

Includes fifty black and white photos.

Author: Isabel Fonseca
ISBN-10: 067973743X
ISBN-13: 9780679737438
Publisher: Vintage
Language: English
Published: 10/29/1996
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 02/09/1997 pg. 32
Library Journal 12/01/2004 pg. 186
Publishers Weekly 09/09/1996