Yugoslavia Books

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Penguin Classics)

Rebecca West

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Part travelogue, part history, part love letter on a thousand-page scale, Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a genre-bending masterwork written in elegant prose. But what makes it so unlikely to be confused with any other book of history, politics, or culture--with, in fact, any other book--is its unashamed depth of feeling: think The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire crossed with Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. West visited Yugoslavia for the first time in 1936. What she saw there affected her so much that she had to return--partly, she writes, because it most resembled "the country I have always seen between sleeping and waking," and partly because "it was like picking up a strand of wool that would lead me out of a labyrinth in which, to my surprise, I had found myself immured." Black Lamb is the chronicle of her travels, but above all it is West following that strand of wool: through countless historical digressions; through winding narratives of battles, slavery, and assassinations; through Shakespeare and Augustine and into the very heart of human frailty.

West wrote on the brink of World War II, when she was "already convinced of the inevitability of the second Anglo-German war." The resulting book is colored by that impending conflict, and by West's search for universals amid the complex particulars of Balkan history. In the end, she saw the region's doom--and our own--in a double infatuation with sacrifice, the "black lamb and grey falcon" of her title. It's the story of Abraham and Isaac without the last-minute reprieve: those who hate are all too ready to martyr the innocent in order to procure their own advantage, and the innocent themselves are all too eager to be martyred. To West, in 1941, "the whole world is a vast Kossovo, an abominable blood-logged plain." Unfortunately, little has happened since then to prove her wrong. --Mary Park

The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

Gregory A. Freeman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Tense and Readable 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Gregory Freeman details this daring World War II rescue in the hills of German-ruled Yugoslavia. The rescuers were U.S. C-47 pilots and their fighter escorts, the rescued were downed U.S. airman hiding in the hills. Perhaps the real heroes were the Serbians, who risked their lives to help the airman, opening their homes and barns, and giving them what little food they had in the months leading up to the rescue. Also, imagine trying to clear a field for a makeshift airstrip under the noses of the Nazi occupiers. I enjoyed reading about the interactions between the Americans and their Serbian hosts, their attempts to communicate, and their joint efforts to enact rescue.

This book also details the struggle between the anti-communist Chetnik guerrillas led by Draza Mihailovich, and the communist partisans led by Josef Broz (Tito). The author doesn't hide his pro-Mihailovich sympathies, and outlines how Tito's Communists hoodwinked Allied intelligence. At least Mihailovich's daughter later saw her father's name more or less resurrected long after his 1946 show trial and execution by Tito's Communists.

This story should be of particular interest to adventure fans, persons with interest in the politics of southeast Europe, and people like me whose father flew in a B-24 during World War II. This isn't a masterpiece, but it's a readable, gripping, interesting story.

Editorial Review:

An astonishing, never-before-told story of the Second World War, based on newly declassified documents and exclusive interviews.

In 1944 the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia. Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time.

The Fall of Yugoslavia

Misha Glenny

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Not a good book...at all 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 16 people found this review helpful.

I was looking for an overview of the balkan conflict. This book does not offer that. It does not give someone without a great deal of prior knowledge a good historical reference for what led to war. I feel like the author of this book assumes the reader is extremely familiar with the conflict and decided to write a book sharing some of his personal experiences that coincided with major events in the conflict. The chapters severely lack coordination. As somebody else mentions it goes into way too much detail about insignificant figures. I also purchased "Yugoslavia, Death of a Nation". Though I've only finished the introduction and first chapter I already feel like I've learned more than after completion of "The Fall of Yugoslavia". Maybe after completing "Death of a Nation" going back through "The Fall of Yugoslavia" might be interesting, doubt it though...

Editorial Review:

Misha Glenny's acclaimed account of the war in former Yugoslavia contains substantial new material that discusses the end of the five-year conflict and looks ahead to an uneasy future in this turbulent region. Writing in the "Evening Standard", Fitzroy Maclean said 'Misha Glenny's deeply disturbing book is, to my mind, essential reading for anyone trying to understand, or even just follow, events in what was once Yugoslavia'.

The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society

Arthur M. Schlesinger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this updated version of a modern classic, acclaimed historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. strikes a blow against radical multiculturalism. The rising cult of ethnicity, he argues, threatens a common American identity, imperiling the civic ideals that traditionally have bonded immigrants into a nation. Various chapters criticize bilingual education, Afrocentrism, and the use of history as group therapy for minorities. Schlesinger raised eyebrows when he first published this book in 1992 because of his impeccable liberal credentials as a one-time assistant to President Kennedy and long-standing academic champion of FDR's New Deal. This new version contains all of the original volume's edge, plus a few extras, including an appendix containing "Schlesinger's Syllabus," 13 books "indispensable to an understanding of America." Titles from this eclectic list include The Federalist Papers, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Mencken's American Language. The Disuniting of America remains an essential book for readers interested in the American character as it enters the 21st century. --John J. Miller

Kosovo: War and Revenge

Tim Judah

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Tim Judah lived in Belgrade from 1990 to 1995, reporting for the London Times and the New York Review of Books; and when the "ethnic cleansing" started in Kosovo, he was there. So his Kosovo: War and Revenge is well placed to offer some insights, variously scathing and compassionate, on the whole, sorry mess. It doesn't matter how many Serbian tanks you (allegedly) knock out with your high-tech bombing raids, "since the most potent weapon in ethnic cleansing is the cigarette lighter needed to set houses on fire." And Judah can evoke the madness of Kosovo in a single, startling set piece: vengeful Albanians rampaging through a Serbian Orthodox priest's house, smashing icons, stealing candles; French soldiers from KFOR "looking on amiably"; a nearby Gypsy house also on fire; and a passing French commander explaining to an open-mouthed Judah that the official NATO policy at this moment is "to let them pillage." Paraphrasing a Belgrade journalist, he notes sadly that Serbia has still not found its Adenauer, nor Kosovo its Mandela, which is what both so desperately need. The introductory chapter, summarizing Kosovo's tortured and tortuous history, is better rendered in Noel Malcolm's Kosovo: A Short History, and for a wider overview of the Balkans themselves, one would certainly prefer Misha Glenny's The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers 1809-1999. For an acerbic and perceptive personal account, however, Judah's book is hard to beat. --Christopher Hart, Amazon.co.uk

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo

Zlata Filipovic

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Total reviews: 78 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Zlata Filipovic was given a diary shortly before her 11th birthday and began to write in it regularly. The preoccupations of an ordinary, if unusually intelligent and articulate little girl, include whether or not to join the Madonna fan club, the fate of the super-models, her piano lessons, her tennis lessons, her friends and her new skis. But the distant murmur of war draws closer. Her father starts to wear military uniform and her friends begin to leave the city. One day school is closed, and the next the bombardments begin. The pathos and power of this diary come from watching the destruction of a childhood which could be that of anybody's child. Zlata writes about her fears, her desires, her pet cat, her mother's fear of a mouse in the wainscotting, her mother dodging the bullets to cross the bridge to work, and her father's frostbite and hernia from dragging water to them since there is no more water on tap. To Zlata the availability of electricity means that perhaps she can watch MTV - to that extent she remains a very ordinary little girl. But her circle of friends is increasingly replaced by international journalists who come to hear of this little girl's courage and resilience so that she becomes a frequent stop in their search for news stories. But the reality is that, as they fly off with the latest story of Zlata, she remains behind, writing her deepest feelings to "Mimmy", her diary and last remaining friend.

With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia

Asne Seierstad

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Personal Portraits of Serbians 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I very much enjoyed this book. The author covers individual serbs. She displays a deep effection for the people of Serbia. The book profiles by chapter ordinary people and politicians and journalists. I thought the author did a good job of covering a wide collection of perspectives, a Titoist, a follower of Milosovich, a democratic reformer, a wheeler/dealer/con man, a journalist. I thougth the portrait of the rock singer was the most engaging. Very nice read and I thought presented a human face to a country that in the west is vastly misunderstood.

Editorial Review:

From beloved international reporter Åsne Seierstad comes a remarkable exploration of the lives of ordinary Serbs under the regime of Slobodan Milosevic-during the dramatic events leading up to his fall, and finally in the troubled years that have followed. Seierstad traveled extensively through Serbia between 1999 and 2004, following the lives of people from across the political spectrum. Her moving and perceptive account follows nationalists, Titoists, Yugonostalgics, rock stars, fugitives, and poets. Seierstad brings her acclaimed attention to detail to bear on the lives of those whom she encounters in With Their Backs to the World, as she creates a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation made up of so many different-and often conflicting-hopes, dreams, and points of view.

Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation

Laura Silber, Allan Little

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Detailed, but incomplete and biased 2 out of 5 stars.
47 of 57 people found this review helpful.

As most other reviews stated, this book is easy to read, and it provides a detailed description of the events throughout the Croatian and Bosnian War (1990-1995) This book is supplemented by the highly popular BBC series - "Death of Yugoslavia," which is perhaps the most-known documentary on the war. The documentary follows the book quiet closely, with an inherent strength of BBC reports having interviews to most of the major players - Milosevic, Tudjman, Stambolic, Izanbegovic, and others (most of which are in jail or dead now anyways).

Nonetheless, this book has a strong anti-Serb thesis, which, I suppose, it needs in order to be conclusive. In other words, if there are no good guys and bad guys, the Laura Silber would create an incomplete work. But for someone who wants to get a good insight of the war in Balkans, it cannot be looked through the lenses of "black and white," as this book tries to convey.

It is important for readers to know that the accounts of the war are carefully selected and edited in the anti-Serb fashion. For example, the ethnic cleansing atrocities, when described in detail, are almost always pertaining to the Serbs. But when it comes to the Croats and the Muslims, the book overlooks their actions during the war. In addition, the book provides little evidence of the involvement of the bigger powers - EU and USA.

For example, early chapters go into great depth talking about the pointless shelling of Dubrovnik, talking about Montenegrins peasants getting their "revenge" to fulfill their jealousies against the prominent Croatian population of Ragusa. But when it talks about Operation Storm - the single biggest even of ethnic cleansing during the entire war, undertaken by Croatian Forces will full military, logistical, and financial support from the US, it does not go into any depth at all. It is dismissed as "Krajina Serbs" got what they deserved. The Krajina Serbs did not "occupy" that part of Croatia - they lived there for hundreds of years.

When dealing with international involvement, it goes to great length to disapprove Srebrenica, while Operation Storm is supported by the West. Perhaps US and EU had other motivations in this conflict? What about the arming of Croats and Bosnia throughout before the war in the old SFRJ (which was then illegal)

In addition to a one-sided view, it fails to address other major issues, such as economic disparities. Invoking economics, it justifies Croatia's and Slovenia's promising economic position before the disintegration, nevertheless, it mentions to compare facts. Slovenia and Croatia assumed a high level of industry due to the fact they had cheap natural resources that mostly came from Serbia and Kosovo. In addition, the economic status of Serbia is taken under consideration with Kosovo - even though Kosovo, not Serbia, is the most impoverished region in former Yugoslavia. The fact that Kosovo Albanian's have been boycotting the federal institutions since early 1980s - not paying taxes, utilities, and other duties since the death of Tito had something to do with this idea.

While I do not discourage people from reading this book, I only state that Laura Silber (et al) provides a narrow-minded, opinionated, and sensationally journalistic view of the breakup of former Yugoslavia.

If anyone is interested in truly learning about this conflict, more resources are necessary.

Editorial Review:

Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation draws on hundreds of interviews with politicians, soldiers, and citizens to bring readers behind the scenes of Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II. Published as the companion to the critically acclaimed BBC documentary broadcast on the Discovery Channelof photos.

Kosovo : Contending Voices on Balkan Interventions

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Powerful commentary on the most volatile international event of the year--the conflict in Kosovo.

This is the first book in any language to bring together--in powerful point-counterpoint format--political, ethical, and cultural commentary on the Kosovo conflict by internationally renowned contributors. Also woven into the book are moving firsthand stories of the suffering Balkan people.

Composed of some sixty essays written in dialog with one another, the book contains assessments by noted politicians and analysts (Henry Kissinger, Juergen Haberman, Zbigniew Brzezinski), government officials (Javier Solana, Kofi Annan, Vaclav Havel, Morton Halperin), award-winning journalists (Mark Danner, Tim Judah, Robert Kaplan), human rights advocates (Julie Mertus), theologians and ethicists (Jean Bethke Elshtain, Brian Hehir, David Little, Vatican Archbishop Tauran, Stanley Harakas), historians (Miranda Vickers), military leaders (General Wesley Clark), and many other key figures.

This book also includes photos, maps, a time line, a list of key names, NATO objectives, and online resources for further study of this critical regional conflict with worldwide implications.

The Collapse of Yugoslavia 1991-1999 (Essential Histories)

Alastair Finlan

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Editorial Review:

In 1991, an ethnically diverse region that had enjoyed decades of peaceful coexistence descended into bitter hatred and chaos, almost overnight. Communities fractured along lines of ethnic and religious affiliation and the ensuing fighting was deeply personal, resulting in brutality, rape and torture, and ultimately the deaths of thousands of people. This book examines the internal upheavals of the former Yugoslavia and their international implications, including the failure of the Vance-Owen plan; the first use of NATO in a combat role and in peace enforcement; and the war in Kosovo, unsanctioned by the UN but prosecuted by NATO forces to prevent the ethnic cleansing of the region.