What do you call a book that’s laced with copious amounts of bullshit but is still worth reading?
From Da to Yes, as its name implies, is a guide to the nations of eastern Europe excluding Russia, which is covered in Yale Richmond’s companion book From Nyet to Da. Richmond himself, so far as I can tell, is one of those weedy little neoliberal twerps who went to eastern Europe in the nineties to facilitate in the region’s “democratic” and “capitalist” transitions (read: help Westerners steal everything that wasn’t nailed down). Indeed, the book is dedicated to the Americans “who are giving so generously of their time to assist in the democratic transition in eastern Europe.”
We’re in for some rough sledding, folks.
Still, From Da to Yes is an interesting and informative cultural guidebook, provided you can read between the lines and decipher Richmond’s squid-like prose. He’s clearly an academic, as evidenced by his clinical, dry writing style and unwillingness to make any kind of judgment about the peoples he’s writing about. For example, here’s a section from one of the first chapters, on Poland:
Poles have two codes of behavior, one public and the other private. In public, they can be pushy, demanding, distant, abrupt, and rude. In private, they are warm, generous, hospitable, and loquacious. Conversations are lengthy, and goodbyes never seem to end. As the Poles say, “The English leave without saying goodbye. The Poles say goodbye but do not leave.”
Read: the Poles are a bunch of blabbermouths.
Or check this section from the chapter on the Czechs and Slovaks:
Poles, as we have seen, were always prepared to rise up and fight for their independence and freedom. Czechs have consistently chosen a more cautious course and, they might argue, with similar results.
Read: the Czechs are a bunch of shameless suckups. Mark Ames made the exact same claims in The Exile, only he didn’t pussyfoot around the facts.
Still, From Da to Yes is nothing if not comprehensive. The book is short on practical information for tourists such as cost of living and sights to see, so don’t buy it if you’re looking for a Lonely Planet substitute (though given that the book was published in 1995, it wouldn’t be useful for that purpose anymore anyway). Richmond is squarely focused on describing the cultural and historical attributes of the Poles, Hungarians, Romanians and more. Additionally, if you’re of eastern European descent and interested in tracing your ancestry, the book has an interesting appendix full of resources and advice.
You just need to wade through a lot of pointlessness to get there.
As I mentioned already, Richmond’s academic perspective prevents him from calling bullshit where appropriate. Many of the chapters drag on due to him repeating information that was already pretty well-stated in the introduction. For example, he keeps making a point to delineate each culture’s hospitality to outsiders, oblivious to the fact that it’s virtually identical from country to country. Additionally, Richmond lacks the balls to just admit that a lot of peoples in eastern Europe, such as the Macedonians and Moldovans, simply aren’t that noteworthy.
Contrast to Roosh’s Bang Poland, where he flat-out says in the intro that Polish culture is pretty boring and uninteresting, a product of the country being sandwiched between Germany and Russia, two great powers.
This would be somewhat forgivable if From Da to Yes applied the same level of detail to all of the cultures it discusses, but it doesn’t. The section on Belarus is embarrassingly skimpy, for example, and all the nations of Yugoslavia are cramped into a single chapter. Additionally, Richmond spends an odd amount of time on information that should merit a footnote at best. For example, he spends multiple paragraphs discussing how each nationality treated Jews in World War II.
What saves From Da to Yes is its historical information. Richmond gives you a bird’s eye look at the pasts of Poland, Albania, Bulgaria and more, useful if you’re a history buff or looking to augment your knowledge if you’re planning to make a trip to the country in question. If you keep your BS detector on, From Da to Yes is a solid resource if you’re interested in and/or traveling to eastern Europe and want to know what to expect.
Click here to buy From Da to Yes: Understanding the East Europeans.
Read Next: Bang Poland: How to Make Love to Polish Women in Poland by Roosh V