This book  is about the politicking that took place around the Romanian national idea during the socialist period.  Based on the theoretical model of socialism that Verdery also published in the articles “Theorizing Socialism” and “What Was Socialism and Why Did It Fall,” this book analyzes disputes in the field of cultural production in which ideas about Romanian identity figured prominently.  Cases include arguments around “protochronism” beginning in the 1970s, debates concerning the 1984 bicentennial of a peasant uprising, and the School of philosopher Constantin Noica.