My Stories and Reflections of Communism and Capitalism

Ion Grumeza, born in Romania and now a citizen of the United States, has lived under two vastly different cultural, political, and social systems. The entertaining short stories he's written in this collection open windows for readers to see the opposing worlds of Communism and Capitalism between 1970-2000. For historical context, he includes a few essays detailing communist and capitalistic systems in that era. The proletarian leaders with no formal education, low intellect and little aptitude were unfit for the high positions they held in Eastern Europe. While claiming to advance political objectives inspired by Marxism, Leninism and Stalinism, they brought corruption through bribery and nepotism. Their incompetence starved the population of vital necessities. At the street level, the people defiantly joked about the failures of Communist doctrine in full display, as Grumeza narrates in these stories. While the United States' capitalistic system was not perfect, it was the best system yet. It attracted refugees from behind the Iron Curtain to the West. However, they wanted to find shortcuts to bypass the time and hard work necessary to achieve the American dream. Their limited potential and unrealistic aspirations of making it big account for the dark humor in Grumeza's short stories. Yet his satire does not discriminate: it also targets inefficiencies in the American way of doing some things. The diversity of topics in the stories reflects Grumeza's varied experiences. Over the years, he's worked as a day laborer, a factory worker, a church restorer, and a teacher. He's been a lecturer on various topics and served as Project Director of Science and Religion Articles of Distinction at the Templeton Foundation Press. He has authored and published ten books in English on various topics, including biographies, geo-political analyses, historical and religious subjects and a book of humor. Finally, he is a philosopher who recently released Effectology: The Study of Accidents and Their Effects (Conclusive Books, 2024).