Product Description

In a timely, passionate survey of Balkan history since the early 19th century, Misha Glenny provides the essential background to recent terrible events in this war-torn area. No other book covers the entire region and offers such profound insights into the roots of Balkan violence, or explains so vividly the origins of modern Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Greence, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania. Many readers will welcome the author's insights into the final century of Ottoman rule, a complex and colourful period essential for understanding today's conflicts.

Glenny's account of each national group in the Balkans and its struggle for statehood is lucid and fair-minded, and he brings the culture of different nationalisms to life. The narrative is studded with sharply observed set pieces and portraits of kings, guerillas, bandits, generals and politicians. He interweaves a narrative of key events with the story of international affairs--the relations between states in the Balkans, and between them and the great powers.

It is the latter relationship that lies at the heart of this compulsively readable book. Glenny shows how great-power interference in the region has been catastrophic for the peoples of the Balkans, and how so-called "ancient hatreds" and "tribal rivalries" have often been intensified by ignorant diplomants in far-away capitals, creating states, allocating populations and redrawing borders--with deadlin results. It remains to be seen, Glenny argues in a terse epilogue, whether the most recent western intervention will have a more benign outcome.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68013 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

Synopsis
A survey of two centuries of history, by Britain's commentator on the Balkans, Misha Glenny. It offers general readers a single narrative that explains the background to the terrible events on their television screens and provides insights into the roots of the region's reputation for violence. It also explores the origins of modern Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania.

About the Author
Misha Glenny was born in 1959 and educated at Bristol University and CHarles University in Prague. His coverage of the fall of communism in 1989-90 was widely acclaimed and led to the writing of his first book, The Rebirth of History. During the Yugoslav crisis of the early 1990s he was the Centreal Europe correspondent for the BBC World Service. In 1993, he won a Sony Award for his coverage of Yugoslavia. The Fall of Yugoslavia was published in 1992, became a bestseller, and has been in print ever since. Glenny speaks German, Czech and Serbo-Croat and has live and worked all over the Balkans.

Customer Reviews

an uneven compilation
glenny is a journo with a degree in drama who thinks he can write history. it's all rather hastily cobbled together, poorly structured. some bits that are 'clearly written' are wrong, others are borrowed from other scholars like Duncan Perry. it received a rather negative write-up in the English Historical Review.

Very poor
I was interested in the Balkan countries and I wanted to learn a little bit about them so I bought this book. I jumped straight in and it was very hard going. I'm sorry to the author that I am not an expert like he is on the subject, I guess he presumes every reader that picks up this book to be one. I'm sure all the facts are correct but I think he needs to be a little bit picky about how he presents them. Nearly every sentence there was information on things the general reader would know nothing about, without even a preliminary introduction to the subject. Things like wars, army leaders etc - were all in a tone that presumed everyone was following him yet he hadn't even given any background information - it was all very disjointed and confusing.

This kind of book really annoys me as he obviously hasn't put any thought into how to put the information across in a format the reader would most enjoy and more importantly would easily understand. I gave up after the first chapter.

Unbalanced coverage of events
The author is very analytical & descriptive in many chapters of the book & is giving a vivid picture of each period & region. But he leapfrogs from episode to episode which makes reading difficult if you do not know the basics of Balkan history. Emphasis is given on Jugoslavian affairs,in which he is proficient; while he neglects Greece, especially in the 19th century.