Panait Istrati's _The Haiduks_ is a tale of cruelty and injustice (and of those who would combat these scourges) set in a Romania bled white by the ferocity of an occupying power and the greed of its native aristocracy."The marvelous storytelling talent," notes José Carlos Mariátegui, "that Panait Istrati revealed as of his earliest books is confirmed in _The Haiduks_. The figures of the haiduks, especially those of Floarea Codrilor, Élie the Sage, and Spilca the Monk are drawn with surreal vigor on the rustic backdrop of the mountains of Romania and their primitive villages."Genre: novel