Why I Love Bulgaria: The Implacable truth of the country as seen through foreign eyes
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15.00лв.
€7.67
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Код:15106
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Тегло:0.280 кг
Why do we love something or someone is not a question we often ask ourselves. It is difficult to answer. Perhaps this is because love is a feeling that is not easy to catch in words. And that is why the book in front of you, that asks the question - Why do I love Bulgaria, makes you curious and especially because a foreigner has made the effort to answer this question. Hans Wissema is not a stranger to Bulgaria and Bulgaria is not a stranger to him, for several reasons. Some of the reasons you will understand when you read the book or perhaps you have already read his book (in Bulgarian translation) "Siberian lessons about life, love and death".
The Dutch professor in technology and entrepreneurship offers us his understanding about the turning points in the history of Bulgaria - the ones that made Bulgaria as it is now. He shares his observations and perceptions about the social life of Bulgarians today. Wissema does not save us from his opinion that Bulgarians have a lot to be proud of, but they need to fight more decisively for their better future as well as stronger defend what is Bulgarian. It is therefore that the author reminds us of Paisius of Hilendar, whose allocution to Bulgarians we all know but we often forget.
Sometimes in life we need a mirror to realise something that is so logical and naturally clear. Or a foreigner should remind us of it. We then hear the message clearer and it makes us think. Hopefully the book of Hans Wissema will have the same effect on the reader. Reading it I thought about us, the Bulgarians, and about our Bulgaria and concluded: I am proud of and I love Bulgaria!
In this book the author reflects on Bulgaria not simply as a place, but as a complex entity to understand. Through his long‑term immersion into Bulgarian society, culture, and history he uncovers the threads that connect past and present, individual and collective, the visible and the subtle. He offers a view that is at once observational and personal, reminding us that loving a country demands more than admiration: it demands engagement, responsibility, and a readiness to face its contradictions. The tone is neither uncritical nor detached, but a call for pride complemented by self‑awareness, for defending what is Bulgarian with both heart and intellect.
Hans Wissema begins by locating his relationship with Bulgaria: he has lived, worked, and connected deeply with Bulgarian people, institutions, and life. This background allows him to speak as an insider‑outsider — respectful of tradition yet unafraid of pointing out challenges. He devotes chapters to critical moments in Bulgarian history: how Bulgaria responded to external forces, how its cultural identity was shaped, and how its institutions evolved under change. He notes the importance of remembering Paisius of Hilendar, whose call to Bulgarians still resonates though often forgotten.
He then turns to present‑day Bulgarian society, exploring how people live, how values shift, how the economy, education, and entrepreneurship are forming a new chapter. He admires the Bulgarian capacity for resilience, for creating community, for preserving language and folklore, yet urges Bulgarians to fight for a stronger future, to articulate what they are, to defend their heritage with clarity. Wissema emphasizes that love for a country is not passive: it is active. It means choosing to believe in your society while seeing its shadows, stepping into its stream with responsibility.
The writing is enriched with personal anecdotes, reflections on language and culture, occasionally sharp observations about bureaucratic inertia or social patterns. It invites Bulgarians to regard themselves through fresh eyes — someone who admires them because he has chosen to invest his life there. His message is that sometimes a mirror from outside helps us see ourselves more clearly. The book encourages Bulgarians to say “I am proud of and I love Bulgaria,” not in slogans, but in conscious, sustained action: preserving what is valuable, reforming what is broken, and honouring the complexity of their nation.
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Автор:Hans Wissema
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Издателство:Кибеа
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ISBN:9544749200
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Година:2021
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Страници:154
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Корици:меки
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Състояние:отлично