Pavel Campeanu was a cellmate in the political prison of Jilava of the man who was to become Romania's leader - Nicolae Ceausescu. Campeanu was himself a member of the Party during the years of illegality. Here, he blends the power of personal recollections with clear-eyed analysis to describe historical events from the perspective of an insider. At more than a decade since Ceasescu's death, Campeanu's book is more than just another study of the Romanian variation of totalitarian societies. Based largely on hitherto unavailable documents, the book focuses on the ascendance of Nicolae Ceausescu from a mere member of the Romanian Communist Party to that of leader of the monstrous Party and State apparatus that collapsed in 1989.