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 personal recollections with analysis to describe historical events from the perspective of an insider. At more than a decade since Ceausescu's death, the book is more than just another study of the Romanian variation of totalitarian societies. It 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.