Bulgarian Background

Much more a potpourri of cherry picked facts, mixed with a fictitious negative narrative about a country in recovery from three lost wars, than an unbiased depiction of travels, alleged British spy and celebrated author Bernard Newman tries his best to conceal his admiration of the Bulgarian people in this book about his 1958 travels in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian spirit manages to come out rosy through the Western dark glasses with British propaganda made apparent by series of cookie cutter slams on the country and it's socialist ruling elite. The author's authentic surprise of the ingenuity and stability of the Bulgarian life philosophy at times eclipses the original purpose of the book, imposed by a British government bent on misrepresenting Bulgaria's reality in the late 1950s. Newman is caught off guard by the welcoming, practical plain peasants he meets along the way. The candid moments described in the book alone paint a unique snap shot of Bulgarian history. Even the brave twists of Bulgarian reality and the amateur economist attempts in the book fail to misrepresent a fun journey made possible by welcoming people and their "repressive" Communist Big Brother who somehow fails to curate and restrict a stranger's journey into a country where things are looking up.