Product Description

First appearing in two volumes in 1942, this book was written as a result of the author's three journeys to Yugoslavia: one in 1936, another in 1937 and finally, in the summer of 1938. At first, she thought it was folly to consider a book on such a subject and it seems that her publishers thought so too. But the book became a historical, archaeological and political analysis of the country, as well as a conversation and an account of folklore, prophecy, and a record of landscape. The book also includes the author's views on religion, ethics, art, myth and gender. The book was completed as Yugoslavia was plunged into political turmoil, followed by invasion and four years of merciless civil and partisan warfare. It is being re-published half a century later during equally critical times for the people of the Balkans. Rebecca West is the author of nonfiction works such as "The Meaning of Treason" and "A Train of Powder", and works of fiction including "The Thinking Reed", "The Fountain Overflows" and "The Birds Fall Down".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #451579 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1181 pages

Review
"As a book about Yugoslavia it's a kind of metaphysical Lonely Planet that never requires updating." Geoff Dyer "It is hard to convey the flavour of a book so rich in observation, history, philosophy, political ideas and ironic humour." The Times "Impossible to put down, both timeless and of its time... a travel book and epic narrative history brimming with passion, anger, scholarship and intuition, hatred and love." Observer "Dame Rebecca, the finest reporter of her generation, saw everything." Sunday Telegraph"

Observer
"Impossible to put down, both timeless and of its time.

Sunday Telegraph
"Dame Rebecca, the finest reporter of her generation, saw everything."

Customer Reviews

What a fantastic book!
A middle-class englishwoman and her banker husband travel round Yugoslavia in the 1930s. Sounds dull, but it's actually one of the most engrossing books I have read for a long time - all 1200 pages of it. The digressions on the history of the Republic of Dubrovnik, Diocletian's palace in Split, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand etc are absolutely magical.

West has some odd ideas about religion and monarchy. She seems to be an Islamophobe and a Turkophobe, and I don't entirely like what she writes about Jews. She is an unashamed Serbophile in a way that is most unfashionable these days, and she has scant sympathy for anyone else's nationalism, but her heart and brain are undoubtedly in the right place.

Worth a read by anyone interested in the history of the Balkans, though not to be read uncritically.

A must read if your traveling in the Balkans
After reading some of the history of the Balkans, all other authors recommended this book, and after reading it I can see why. It is the format others try to obtain. She keeps the reader waiting for the next corner in not only her travels but in history. It puts into perspective todays turmoil.

The Greatest Travel Book Ever Written
This book is, without a doubt, the greatest travel book ever written. Encylopaedic in its depth and scope, it is the vastly readable account of Dame Rebecca West's pre-war journeys through the Balkans. But it is more than a mere travelogue--it says much about the human predicament in general. It is impossible to understand the current problems in the former Yugoslavia without this book.