Madeline Potter’s ‘The Roma’ blends memoir and research t…

“The Roma: A Travelling History” is a fascinating look at a marginalized and misunderstood group of people who have encountered hostility for centuries.

Written by Madeline Potter, a scholar of 19th century Gothic literature, the new book recounts how members of the group long have been maligned, enslaved, deported and murdered.

Potter, who grew up Romani in post-Communist Romania, weaves together bits of memoir with her archival research into what is described as the first contemporary history of the Romani people.

Instead of being raised in an intricately carved horse-drawn “vardo” that traveled from camp to camp, Potter passed her childhood “settled” in a towering Soviet-style high-rise, a more typical upbringing as the Romani people increasingly leave life on the road to become settled.

In her book, Potter carries us from England, where she currently lives, to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Germany France, Spain, the U.S. West Coast and finally to Sweden.

Potter tells of how King Henry VIII passed the “Egyptians Act” in 1530, calling for the Gypsy people to be expelled from England due to their alleged crimes, including “robberies,” “Palmistry” and “deceit.” Believed to have migrated from northern India to Europe some 1,500 years ago, and with a language rooted in Sanskrit, the Roma at one time were thought to have originated in Egypt.