In this book, Mr. Vryonis speaks for an institute whose avowed purpose is to propogate a particular version of history, a version which demonizes all things Turkish. In short, it's an unhelpful contribution to a complex--even Balkan--set of problems and an oversimplification of a quite complicated historical legacy. Look for more objective books if you need background on these questions: this one is a rant.

This book is a review by Prof. Vryonis of a book that was authored in French by the late prime minister of Turkey, Turgut Ozal. The apparent aim of the book is to make propaganda about Turkey, Turkish history, the language etc. that is so incredible that it could not possibly be believed by anyone even passingly familiar with history. Vryonis does a great job deflating this incompetent job of chauvinism and bungled attempt at historical revisionsim. Ozal goes down as just another Turkish politician who gave his people a bad name. A must read for all those interested in learning the dark side of modern Turkey.

The author, a well known scholar, provides an excellent analysis of how the modern Turkish state, ever since its founding in 1923, has worked intensively, though incompetently, on distorting history.

This is done by reviewing a recent book written in French by the assistants of the late president Ozal of Turkey, in order to convince the Europeans that Turkey should be allowed to enter the European Union.

Mr. Ozal, turned historian, attempts to persuade the readers of his book of such things as: all Greek history is in fact Turkish history; all history stems from the Turks and could not be possible without the contribution of the Turks; all language stems from Turkish etc.

In the second part of the book, Dr. Vryonis examines how the Turkish state is buying influence in the United States by bankrolling the work of corrupt American scholars to parrot such "theories" as those in Mr. Ozal's book and by endowing chairs of Turkish Studies in American universities.

The chief characteristic of Turkish civilization when it comes into contact with other civilizations is that an orgy of taking and usurpation develops -- that is the Turks taking from the other civilization. The current book -- superbly documented with Turkish as well as international sources -- shows that this cultural tendency to usurp and appropriate extends not just to material wealth and to the genes of the forcibly Turkified populations, but -- beyond that -- to the history of the peoples the Turks come into contact with.

In our times this tendency is manifested by the Turkish state denying the identity of 20% of its population which is Kurdish and by its insistence to refer to them as "mountain Turks" while prohibiting public speech or publications in Kurdish.

The book should be read by all, but especially by those who believe that Turkey is a Western nation. Distortion of history and manipulation of national identity is not a particularly western value.

This is an odd book in every respect, and it reflects an odd historical phenomenon. Sure it is a fact that Albaina--Russia for that matter--industrialised and remained a soveriegn state throughout a period of terrible dictatorship. But these are simple facts, and not bases for a historical reevaluation of the true character of regimes.

This book reflects an attempt by the author to set himself apart by siding with a new historical school, one that I hope and have confidence will be disproven.

We owe as much to the twentieth century and the bitter lessons it has taught us, or most of us I should say.

Modern history witnessed nothing like Enver Hoxha's reign of terror over His own people.From His establishment in 1945,Albania was turned into Gulag,although that is only euphemism for real state of affairs.Untill 1948's Yugoslavia's split with Stalin,His country recevied enormous ammount of help from Belgrade,although it was ally of Axis,but latter He becomed so loyal to Stalin,that He broke-up with U.S.S.R. after Kruschev's turning away from stalinism and embraced Mao's China.So,the idea that Hoxha was pro-independence leaders do not agrees with fact that under His regime,Albania was always attached to "Big Brother" kind of country,in a most servile manner.He brought total devastation and unprecedented poverty to Albania-The Land of Million Bunkers.Compared with Albania,Albanians in Yugoslavia lived in California.Yet,Author glorifies Hoxha as some kind of positive figure,as if His policy is recomendable one for todays World.

O'Donnel represents "Getty-Rittersporn"-phenomenon, a new scholarship among Western historicians that aims to examine the history of Marxism-Leninism, not at bias, but as history. This objectivity is respectable and refutes the previous Cold War knee-jerk judgements perfectly.

O'Donnels work represents admirable honesty and respect regards historical facts. And the FACT IS, that within only 20 years, Albanians achieved what would had been taken 200 years in capitalist society. I definitely recommed this book for anyone interested in sincere research of history.

The ethnic cleansing of the former Ottoman colonies in Europe and Central Asia were undoubtedly brutal and inhumane and cannot be justified by today's moral standards: they involved mass expulsions, massacres, destruction of property and the immiseration of hundreds of thousands. However it seems inane to compare the expulsion (in the case of the Balkans) of the vestiges of an alien, invading imperial state (the Ottomans)which had ruled over and suppressed Slavs, Magyars,Romanians, Greeks and so on for some 400 years with the fate of Anatolia's Armenian population. Justin McCarthy's book goes into great detail in his investigations into this little known area of Europe's sad history of ethnic rivalries and hatreds, and helps us understand better the historical causes of the hatreds that finally erupted in the former Yugoslavia's civil wars.

It seems sad that the Turkish writers whose reviews appear below cling so tightly to any anti-Armenian (or other anti-anti-Turkish) historical theses. Equivocation or justification is as shocking regarding the Armenians' suffering as it is regarding the Nazis genocidal attack on the Jews or Gypsies, and results in an unfair (because not representative of Turkish society's generally good inter-faith relations) image of the Turks as anti-christian Holocaust deniers.

The Muslim population of the Ottoman Empire has suffered greatly in the final decades of this world power that dominated most of the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus and the Balkans for over 500 years. McCarthy sheds light on how Ottoman Muslims - who were in many cases indigenous people who converted to Islam of the lands over which the Ottomans ruled - were persecuted and forced out of their homelands during the wave of nationalistic revival in the Balkans - and on the exodus of Turks that fled Russian expansion in the Caucasus and Central Asia. During the same years in which the old imperialist powers such as Britain, France and the Russian Empire were fomenting nationalistic fires within the Ottoman's Christian population, only to then turn around to demand exclusive protections from the Ottoman Court for them, Muslims all over were killed, persecuted and forced to migrate to Ottoman Anatolia. McCarthy fills a historical information gap by demonstrating demographically the enormous population changes that uncover this sad story scientifically. McCarthy also does justice to a controversial subject by placing the Turkish-Armenian conflict into the background of intercommunal clashes taking place against the backdrop of World War I, and by providing more realistic demographics for the Armenian population and casualties which have been consistently inflated by Armenian researchers.

This is the first time I am reading a book which is covering the massacres of Turks and non-Turkish Muslims during a 100 years period. Almost each sentence in the book is being proved by the reliable sources. There is no way to say this is untrue or didn't happen for any event described in the book. I would like to thank to Justin McCarthy for his detailed research and objective approach. It is so sad to see how millions of Turkish and Muslim people were being tortured and killed and how the world turned its face to the other side and ignored this long-term genocide. Unbelievable!

As I began reading this volume, I was immediately put off by such statements as "..in Albania more or less nothing worked, nothing was available, and no one knew anything." or "duplicity and trickery were the currency of everyday life" or "Cynicism was intelligence, fairness stupidity." And to take a final, random example, "If there was one consistent trait the Albanians shared, it was to charge the foreigner the absolute maximum the market would bear." On top of such wildly general statements, the author allowed himself the use of such words as Wop and Froggy, expressing here and there his dislike of the strictures of political correctness. While not entirely disagreeing with that last point, I still don't like books that make use of such rubbish terms that add absolutely nothing to the topic at hand. So, I must say that I got off to a bad start with THE ACCURSED MOUNTAINS. I kept reading and now I am glad I did. In many ways the picture Carver draws is very accurate, and somehow, despite himself, he seems ultimately to like some of the people he meets. The further he was able to retreat into the past, the high mountains of the northern highlands where even the all-embracing Communism of the Hoxha years could not much penetrate, the happier he seems and the less likely to make sweeping negative statements. I have the ability to comment on his opinions because, strangely enough, I was travelling through Albania at exactly the same time he was--mid-1996---though not for as long. I did not have any contacts at all. The picture Carver gives of the economic situation is absolutely true--utter desolation, back to zero. As he had more political contacts, he could find out more than I did, but what he wrote rang very true to me. The politics of family, clan, and tribe had sprung back as if it had never been gone (it hadn't)and the words 'compromise', 'consensus' and 'practical program' seemed unknown. Where I disagree with Carver is in the nature of the Albanian people. Allowing for the two facts that a) the entire economy had totally collapsed and b)it was a Third World economy anyway, it was amazing to me how honest everyone was. In the weeks that I was there, nobody cheated us, only a couple minor attempts were made even to try, and desperately poor street vendors would return you the correct change even if you had understood "50" instead of "15" due to poor Albanian. Dirt poor people would insist on paying for your coffee, your drinks; hospitality was universal. Con-men existed, but primarily in the world of package tourism, which, despite Carver's denial, did seem to be getting a toehold at that time. Carver reports roadblocks where police extorted money from bus and van drivers every few miles (it seems). I travelled from north to south, east to west, on regular buses, quick vans, taxis, newspaper delivery vans, and the train, never finding even one instance of this, though wide travels elsewhere in the Third World make me aware of how common it is. Carver sees bandits on the road---oops, they are only a bunch of refugee kids. He almost gets shot on a desolate road but---oops, the pistols all fire at a target set up a moment ago. The Macedonian border was shut off but---oops, I went through it with no difficulty. I can easily share his feelings of anxiety--and equally shared the experience of being warned in America before leaving that Albanians were thieves, murderers, bandits, etc. But somehow my fears dissolved while his did not. If you don't mind living with those fears, despite the hospitality he received, the kindness of people who had next to nothing, but shared it with him, then you ought to read this book, ignoring some of the parts that try to make Albania sound much more horrendous than it is (or was in 1996). I share Carver's vision of the rising tide of desperate Third World people who are going to overwhelm the more organized countries in search of order and prosperity, thereby destroying what they came for. Albania's tragedy is yet another one, sending out floods of desperate people. There was no need to make it worse than it is.

Although at times I felt Carver's criticism, or rather sterotypes/generalizations, of Albanians were a bit harsh, I also found a great deal of truth in them. As someone who has lived and traveled extensively in Northern Albania (where the book is set) I can identify Carver. Like the author and many non-albanians that have spent time there, I developed a love-hate relationship with the country (pardon the cliche). I think he provides as objective a critique and response to his travel as possible while being emotionally involved with his subjects. Many readers (some of them Albanian) have criticized
Carver for the negative impressions that he gives of the country. My response to that is that Albanians are one of the proudest people I have ever meet and have a great deal of trouble admitting that corruption, poverty, and a great deal of violence exist within their country. Don't get me wrong, I love the country and the people. Things have changed since Carver wrote the book, some things have improved, some have got worse. The violence exists, it's still there and in many ways has intensified. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is mildly interested in the country or its history. However, remember that while reading it that many of the problems that Carver recounts exist in American and Western European Cultures....and, much like the Albanians we don't want to own them. As another reader points out, many of the words and sentences in the book are in Albanian, Italian, and Greek which didn't bother me as I have a working knowledge of the languages (and admittedly, he should have had an italian and albanian publicist look over the book, because there are several errors) I feel that it adds a great deal to the book, but may be intimidating to someone who doesn't understand these languages.

What a great book to read while on a plane, a bus, or train. This book contained many familiar references and pictures, as I'd traveled through Albania the same year as the author. Had I known what he experienced, I'd probably have reconsidered my trip! While I had no problems, Carver's travelogue takes the reader through incredible experiences with a variety of people that illustrate the Albanian mind, so unique these days, having been isolated for 50 years under a repressive dictator. The amazing thing is that it's non-fiction. This is a fascinating country, and this book takes you on a clearly on-tourist look at the people, landscape, and culture.

For an informative and un biased read on the Kosovo and balkan issue, there are much better books out there than this one. For one, you're well more than half way through the book before the author even gets to the Kosovo issue, although the first part is a fairly unbiased quick refresher of the last century's wars. Once the author finally does get to the Kosovo topic, it is a quick and uninformative heavily biased review that hardly reflects on the true issues of Kosovo, Serbia and the former republics of Yugoslavia. To save you the time of reading it i'll lay out the most ignorant statement in the book: from page 190: "If the US and NATO had not intervened, the Serbs would have settled the Kosovo issue, by ethnic cleansing. The Kosovars would have been pushed into Albania and forcibly reunited with their own people. Kosovo would be owned and inhabited exclusively by Serbs. Monstrous though it would have been to let the Milosevic regime profit from its crimes, it would all be over." Right. And the humanitarian disasters in Macedonia and Albania which hardly have the means to support their own people? The Turkish-Kurd, Spanish-Basque, Albanian-Greek issues that may be affected by such an outcome? It would be over according to this author. Common ignorance from people that weren't there or don't really know. For a good read on Balkan topics i suggest 'Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation', KOSOVO or BOSNIA by Noel Malcholm. For a good read on the atrocities of what goes on in that part of the world how about any chronology of Srebrenica.

I found Fromkin's writing style to be unorganized. He has a lot of information to give (not all of which is dependable, by the way), but he skips around from the 20th century to the Middle Ages to all the time periods in-between, and quite frankly, I found it a bit hard to follow at times.
Fromkin is very confident about his information, and seems to think he's a definitive source on the subject. The book left me with a feeling that I was learning from an expert in Balkan politics--but beware. As a soldier stationed in the Balkans I can tell you, that if you're basing your knowledge of this region off of this book--or any one book--you've only really scratched the surface.

I have read many similar books before.

The book itself has very little to do with Kososvo at all. Tito for example gets less then a page. The way he ruled maybe a line. That he ruled by killing over a million Yugoslavians is never even mentioned.

It is a study basically of the history of US foreign policy. Nothing very orginal or good either. Just some sweeping generalisations that would suggest that US foreign policy is purely a produce of the ideals of the current US president.

Libaridian's disjointed narrative makes excuses for the failings of the autocratic ruler he served as advisor--some would say éminence grise. Claiming confidentiality, he fails to reveal anything new; not that his "revelations" would have been particularly credible. One might have hoped for a coherent explanation with a touch of self-criticism. One would have been disappointed.

The other reviewer has some valid points, but I think he may be blinded by the fact that quite a few people disagree with certain choices that the author has made in his personal and political life. In my opinion, this does not take away from the fact that this is the most honest and realistic books on the current political situation in Armenia. One who is not familiar with some of the basic issues in Armenia politics may not enjoy this book as much.

I loved this text because it talks about some of the more valiant points in Armenian political life. Libaridian speaks about topics of Armenia's government that are very rarely talked about. He supports his claims with evidence, most of it first-hand, so the reader must recognize, and at least respect, his views.

It takes a lot of guts to denounce the Diaspora and to speak in-favor of an unpopular President. The book definetely provided insight on Armenia's government and some of the issues they were struggling with since the inception of statehood in 1991. Some of Armenia's problems that were discussed were the Armenian Genocide and how to handle it, the non-existant economy, and the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

The book was written around 1997, 1998, so the current Kocharian Administration is not really talked about. I hope Libaridian writes a follow-up on Armenia in the 21st century. I would love to hear his probably controversail views about Armenia today and the handling of "Artsakh" versus the terroristic and human-rights violations champion Azerbaijan.

.....

This book is about how the Communists came to power in Albania -- with a few mentions of Yugoslavia -- after World War II. Unfortunately, the author repeats himself too much so that the reader gets the impression that he could have made his point in a quarter the number of pages. I am sure the book is well researched; however, the author seems to have a bone to pick with the political spectrum in general while evidently siding with the Communist doctrine over any other. Had I not been using the book for research purposes myself, I don't think I would have finished it.

This is a great book about the communist and the other factors that have driven the government in the baltic region. I was glued to the pages as if in a trance. I found the book thought provoking and challenging. I think that the other person who left a review should be dragged out onto the streets and shot. There are no words to describe the detail and thought that this book provides. If you are doing any sort of research project I would reccommend this book above all others

To much is focused on the divisions between the albanians, without much truth. There are also episodes mentioned which did not indeed happen (there has been no anti-greek violence in Sarande in 1992). It is old information and althopugh it is helpful, its' quite out of date on many topics.

Albania recently was recognized for its critical humanitarian role as a safe haven for the 600,000 Kosovar men, women and children who fled from the carnage of Serbian police and Molosvich's military henchmen. Albania also was seen nightly on national television as the critical staging area for NATO during the Kosovo War, March through June 1999.

But few know that the people of this small European Baltic country are descendants of the Illyrians, who were the first people to use iron for tools and weapons. As well, few recognize that Mother Teresa, astronaut William Georgry, actor John Belushi and Dr. Ferid Murad, Nobel Laureate in medicine for his work in the development of Viagra, are all of Albanian heritage.

Even today Albania remains one of the least-known European countries since it was isolated by post-war Communism until 1991. Books on Albania in the English language are scarce, an issue which American-born Albanian Lou Giaffo seeks to remedy in this engaging but limited book.

Giaffo writes Albanian history from 1500 B.C. to modern times without the drab, cumbersome academic prose that one often finds in histories. He has a fresh writing style that keeps the reader engaged.

However, there are significant weaknesses in this work. Most Albanians who I spoke with cite four events in the last 60 years that significantly shaped Albania: Communism/Hoxha 1945, the Religious Purge 1967, the fall of Communism 1991 and the Pyramid Scheme 1997. Giaffo does an ample job covering the first and third of these critical historical events, but he failed to include the second and fourth. For a historical text with a 1999 publish date, these are significant omissions, as is the absence of an index (unheard of in any serious historical text). It is my hope that Giaffo follows up and addresses these issues in a second edition. As a writer he is both engaging and informative, a wonderful combination for a writer of history.

Conditionally Recommended

The Amber Trail is a travel log about a bicycle trip along the route of the Amber Trail which ran from the Baltic to Greece which began operation as early as 3000 BC-unfortunately except for a few introductory paragraphs, the book contains little information about amber or the amber trade, and the author failed to any real remnants of the amber trade or trail. As a snapshot of the times, in the Balkan countries, the book is intersting.