Transylvanian Roots: The True Life Adventures of a Hungarian-American

Throughout the horrendous events of religious and ethnic persecution, invasions, toppled governments, and political upheavals surrounding his early years in tumultuous Transylvania, Kosztarab manages not only to dream of a better life, but to hold onto his dream until he finds a way to make it come true. We learn the harrowing story of his and his wife's escape from Communist Hungary, and the even more harrowing story of how he arranged for his infant daughter to be smuggled across the border to join them. Later, as an immigrant to the New World, he maintained his optimistic outlook. On numerous occasions, when others might have been overwhelmed by the odds against them, he managed to attract the help he needed to obtain a car, a job, an apartment, and eventually, to become successful in his career. After working in Maryland, Kosztarab earned a doctorate in entomology from Ohio State, moved to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg to teach and to do research on scale insects. During his professional career, he traveled to Asia, Australia, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy, Mexico, and Sri Lanka, expanding his connections to the international community of entomological researchers. A recurring theme is Kosztarab's continuing love for his homeland the people with whom he spent his early years. Although displaced long ago, he has returned repeatedly to visit family, friends and to reconnect with his ethnic heritage. His book offers descriptions of these return visits to Transylvania, and are a treat for those of us for whom this region is an unknown mystery. "Transylvanian Roots" serves as an inspiration and education to those of us in earlier stages of our careers and lives, as well as an opportunity to reflect upon fragments of our own histories, provoked by Michael's recounting of his. Karen Veilleux, quoted from "The Scale", March 1998