Reading with sources
Pages use reference works, institutional material, museum explanations and peer-reviewed research. Sources are named where they support the discussion so that readers can examine the fuller account. A reference overview has a different purpose from a research article, and a library's own description has a different purpose from a historian's argument. The guide keeps those differences in view. It introduces what a source says in fresh, plain language and does not turn a title, an institutional name or an isolated result into a larger claim. The further-reading guide groups sources by subject and explains what each one covers.
Care with interpretation
Contested history needs careful wording. This guide reports competing interpretations when the material describes them and takes no side on unresolved questions. It distinguishes historical regions from present-day countries, language names from political claims, and remembered experience from a general explanation. Accounts of persecution and coercion name responsibility where the sources establish it and use sober language. Culture is described without assigning a single character to a people. The history overview supplies a broad sequence, while the Moldova chapter follows a more focused set of questions. Reading them together can help keep the scale of an argument clear.
Danube to Dniester is an independent guide to the history, languages and cultures of Romania and Moldova. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Society for Romanian Studies (whose website today is srstudies.org), or to any university, academy, library, journal, museum, government or other organisation named on its pages. It sells nothing, has no members, runs no events or prizes, and accepts no submissions or donations.
The pages are a starting point for reading. Their internal links lead to related subjects, while the source links lead to fuller explanations by the named reference or institution. The student guide offers a practical way to keep evidence separate from interpretation and to make a question small enough to answer. Readers can use a single chapter or follow a theme across the guide. The purpose throughout is clear explanation, thoughtful comparison and a route toward the sources behind the subject.