Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19744 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

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

Clarity imposed on complexity - Superb!
In one splendid volume which reads with the pace and interest of a well-written thriller, Mr.Glenny does the near impossible, conveying the complexities of two centuries of Balkan history with clarity and grace. The scope is breathtaking and no important themes - and few lesser ones - are left uncovered, with explanations not provided not only of their internal Balkan context but of their relationships to the greater European picture. Notwithstanding the fact that the overall story is a depressing one, with hatred, greed and massacre as defining features of almost every decade covered, and with not a single ethnic group or nationality emerging with credit, the power of the writing is such as to carry the reader along and to enjoy - if the word can ever be appropriate in this connection - the sweep of the narrative. Having read this book once straight through however, the reader interested in the area will find themselves returning to it repeatedly to check specific facts. Its particular value is the extent to which it takes events that are peripheral to the wider course of European History, and which are treated in isolation in so many other works, and dropped once their relevance to the larger picture fades, and instead follows them through in detail and explores their significance to the sweep of Balkan history. This is one of the few books of its type that one would have desired to have been longer, rather than shorter, and one would have wished for a yet more extended treatment of major events such as the First and Second Balkan Wars. On only one point would the present reviewer take issue with the writer. This is in relation to the thesis stated in the introduction that the role of the Western Powers had been a greater factor than hitherto recognised in the hopeless cycle of revenge and atrocity that characterises modern Balkan history. Mr.Glenny's masterful account of the greed, intolerance and self-destructive blindness of the societies he portrays is its own refutation of this contention. This observation aside, this is a superb piece of accessible narrative history.

Read this book and re-align your thoughts on Kosovo.
Members of the British public who responded to the call to "Clobba Slobba" with fervent anti-Serb fist-shaking, should probably take the time to read this book. I don't imagine for a moment that they will. Which is unfortunate since it is so accessible and thorough; a book which might go some way to enlightening a public so tainted by media slogans and government spin. It might even re-educate those currently undertaking their mini-war against asylum seekers in Britain.

The lesson here, for those (including myself) who are coming to Balkan history for the first time, is that NATO's assessment of the need for a bombing campaign in 1999 exhibited a singular lack of humanitarian intent - despite claims to the contrary. Hardly a new theme in a region which has been trodden on repeatedly by World powers pursuing their economic or strategic agendas as if contributory to some higher, noble purpose.

If I may, I would like to suggest another book which follows on well from the point where Glenny finishes. "The New Military Humanism" by Noam Chomsky offers a detailed account of the injustice of the NATO campaign. The two books together offer a truly humanitarian perspective on the Balkan region in relation to the global community.

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.