For someone not to well versed in the history of the recent Balkan war this is a great read. I like the author's insightful historical aspect to the book and his unbiased reporting. It is a book that gives much incentive to think about the people living in that region and the author makes a very honest attempt to be nonjudgmental. If you do not know much about the Balkans and have asked yourself why such violent confrontations have happened there over and over this is certainly a good start. The only negative about this book is the bad editing and the the convoluted sentences that sometimes have to be read over again several times to make sense.

Veteran journalist Simon Winchester retraces his steps through the Balkans 20 years after a brief vacation there, to rediscover a region where the geography is as dizzying as the political and ethnic agendas. His journey from Vienna to Istanbul encompasses the crisis in Kosovo and in a series of astute vignettes, Winchester meets some of the major players and the victims. All around him is a simmering cauldron of hatred which has spilled blood yet again and the issues provoke more questions than can ever be answered. Winchester has questions of his own, but he is unable to answer them in any depth. But then, most Westerners have also had trouble analysing the Balkan history of bloodshed. He is only skimming the surface here and for guidance refers to the great works of Nobel prize winner Ivo Andric, whose book Bridge On The Drina remains a classic text to understanding the background of Balkan turmoil. Unfortunately, Winchester departs Kosovo in June 1999, just after NATO enters the region to restore some semblance of calm. I wish he had remained to write about what happened next. The book fizzles a bit when he goes to Bulgaria. There is now a bewildering plethora of books on recent Balkan upheavals. Winchester's wry observations would serve well as a beginner's guide to one of the most troubled and fascinating places on earth.

The Fracture Zone is one of the most unusual books I have ever read. It provides a mosaic of perspectives on the former Yugoslavia centering on the UN-led end of the most recent conflicts in the region. Although the effect can be a little unsettling, the advantage of the approach is to make the experience more personal and more human than a narrower, more disciplined method would have done.

The book's premise is to share the author's experiences through the context of his former visit during peaceful times to the same region, historical perspective on why and how the tensions and conflicts have evolved, and on-the-ground insights from conversations with those who hate and those who do not.

The effect is not unlike what one's own experiences might have been like if a time machine brought us first into the year 1858 in South Carolina and then in the same area in the year 1865. Without more perspective, someone from Kosovo would not be able to understand what had happened between the two times. That is what the author has been trying to accomplish in this book.

Through flashbacks and narration, you will travel twice (once before the wars, and once after them) through the former Yugoslavia on a journey starting in Vienna and ending in Istanbul. You will have many unforgettable moments, like seeing thousands of displaced refugees squatting in a former alpine meadow while overwhelmed army forces try to save lives. You'll learn what a Sarajevo rose is (no, it's not what you think). And you will find how historical lessons can be used as excuses to fan current hatreds of those who are similar and different from oneself.

All of this has an incredible immediacy because this is like the worst of the Nazi era, being relived in many ways in our own times.

The author keeps asking, why? He poses some answers, but ultimately, it is unanswerable. Perhaps in time, we can make sense of this terrible tragedy.

Here are some cautions: Anyone who wants a serious history will not like this book. Anyone who wants a brilliant essay will be even less satisfied.

If you are open to a new approach to understanding an extremely complex circumstance, you will find this book to be interesting. It will expand your curiosity, and that will be good. We all need to ponder the lessons here, to help avoid their recurrence. Share this book with one other person, so the memory will expand.

This book is an exhaustive account of the events that led to the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the complex, multiethnic republics that had once comprised Yugoslavia. Laura Silber and Allan Little, drawing largely on interviews with the leading characters on all sides in the conflict, have written a book that will be consulted for generations to come, for diplomacy's sake.

It is perhaps one of the longer books written about the Bosnian war (it does treat the wars in Slovenia and Croatia, respectively, as well as prime readers on the recent history of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s that shaped it for war). While it lacks in the intricate history to be found in Noel Malcolm's history of Bosnia, and the compressed highlights and historical transitions that are illustrated most vividly in Tim Judah's journalistic work about the Serbs, Silber and Little's work is most effective, in this reviewer's view, in meticulously chronicling every detail of the war in Bosnia. The front lines, the politicians, the paramilitary groups, the efforts and experiences of the few peacekeepers, the atrocities and experiences of civilians caught between exchanges of gunfire; Silber and Little have not overlooked anything surrounding Bosnia's demise. However, as the bulk of this book is devoted to Bosnia, the brief background and key events leading to Yugoslavia's demise provided in these pages could be inadequate for some first-time readers of this tragedy.

The revised Penguin Books edition of this book (under review) appeared in 1996. Throughout the dense text are recurrent references to Kosovo, the province from which Slobodan Milosevic, now an indicted war criminal made it to power in Serbia, and later in the rump Yugoslavia. Silber and Little, at that early stage, predicted that worse was yet to come in Kosovo (see pp. 383-384), writing that the post-Dayton police-dominated province with its Albanian majority (and Serb minority) would be influenced by what happened to the rest of the former Yugoslavia. In Silber and Little's words: "A peace settlement based on the principle that statehood derives from ethnicity sent powerful signals to Serbia's minorities...that could lead to further conflict in the future" (p. 384). Once again, the age-old phenomenon of having writing on the wall; Kosovo was a disaster waiting to happen, with advance warning.

Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the faceted character and nature of a long, gruesome war.

I became involved in the Bosnian crisis in a professional capacity as an intelligence analyst and briefing officer at the headquarters, U.S. European command, and served in Sarajevo with the initial NATO Peace Implementation Force (IFOR). I have been studying and following the history of this area and events in Bosnia ever since. I am familiar with many of the events in the crisis and personalities involved, and found this to be an outstanding summary of the process of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The portion of the book covering the rise of Milosevic and the departure from Yugoslavia of Slovenia is particularly well done. The coverage of the Bosnian war is a bit cursory, and takes the perspective of the conventional wisdom of the international journalistic community. I know from talking to UNPROFOR officers and others who were there that the Muslims were not totally innocent victims and the Serbs universally evil monsters. With that small caveat, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the entire Yugoslav crisis. It is meticulously researched and documented. Anyone trying to understand what is happening in Kosovo right now would be well advised to read this book.

Being closely affected by the entire catastrophy of the last 12 years in Yugoslavia I have read almost everything avaliable on Amazon and in the bookstores pertaining to the subject. This is the Mother Goose of all the books on the last 12 years in the region. One realizes this because all other books quote this one quite often. They are usually recycled or paraphrazed parts of Laura Silber's book. The book is cold and unemotional the way a book about such an event should be. It didnt leave anything out and the sequence of events is perfect. Everything that came after this books publishing was either forshadowed or is just an effect of things in this book. On the other hand if one wants to read books by clowns who were responsible for everything allow me to recommend Slobodan Milosevics' "Years of decisions", Holbrookes "To end a War" (sic. but only when my Q rating is really high), Zimmermanns "Origins of a catastophe"(sic. was blind but now can see). Read this book, understand what and how went on and hold your own against any expert on the subject.

There is no denying that this is a very valuable book on the Baltic States' history during the fall of the Soviet Union. But on the other hand, there are few other books out there to compare this one with. The bibliography on the history of the Baltic States is quite scarce. Lieven gives a good, and thourough analysis of a specific time in history, however, for many local Balts, when reading the text, it is obvious that this was written by an outsider looking in. Lieven does not always seem to fully understand the real character and history of the region. Nevertheless, since there are very few foreign authors paying attention to the region, an imperfect treatement is better than no treatment at all. The Baltic Countries have changed dramatically since this book was written. The situation described in the book as "contemporary" already seems like ancient history in the Baltic States. Readers should not think that the countries described in the books are still the same today. It is a valuable book, since there is little else written on the period or the region. However, looking at it objectivly, it is not perfect, and lacks a true understanding of the events that have shaped Baltic history and created the Baltic people.

This book is a good view of the path to the Baltic's 2nd Republic. The author gives a good account of what transpired in the Baltic republics during the late 80's and early 90's, when this book was written. He was living there and reports firsthand the events that transpired.

I almost felt that most of the book was about Lithuania. Maybe that is because Lithuania, unlike its northern neighbors, was able to resist teutonic conquest and allied itself with Poland. Lieven gives the reader history and more, because the actions the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians took in becoming independant are rooted in history. For example, the 2nd Republic had to decide what constitution or laws were used. Most opted for the interwar laws and constitutions. But this conflicted with the European or EU view. So, the Balts were considered to be insensitive to the colonizers, in their midst. The Balts looked toward Europe, but their view of Europe was stuck in the interwar period. That was their only view, during the Soviet occupation. As the author states in arguments with "the extreme Right-wing parties about some of their ideas, and my knock-out blow (wrapped in less direct language) has always been: 'what you are saying is not European; it will separate you from the modern West'" page 71. This idea is sort of a mantra for the author. That the Balts do not know what it is to be European.

The book has notes, but no biliography. I found that to be unacceptable. The book is organized thus: 1 The Shape of the Land; 2 Surviving the Centuries; 3 Independence Won and Lost, 1918-40; 4 The Troglodyte International: The Soviet Impact on the Baltic; 5 Imagined Nations: Cycles of Cultural Rebirth; 6 Lost Atlantises: The Half-Forgotten Nationalities of the Baltic; 7 The Baltic Russians; 8 The Independence Movements and their Successors, 1987-92; 9 Building on Ruins: The Recreation of the New States; Conclusion: The West and the Baltic States.

This was an interesting book. I would be interested in reading what has happened during the 10 years, since the writing of this book. I think the author took pride in declaring to the Balts that they were not "modern" Europeans.

Baltic history had been so long overlooked, at best it was relegated to footnotes in European history, that it was great to read a book totally devoted to the subject in the English language. Lieven gives an excellent overview of events that led to the independence of these tiny republics in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. Unfortunately, the information is now dated. So much has transpired since 1991 that the book needs to be revised and updated. While the other former Soviet republics struggle to esatblish even the rudiments of a free-market economy, the Baltics are thriving. As Lieven pointed out, these countries have long European roots, unfortunately they became entangled with Russian roots and their personal histories became obscured.

Only intellectual blindness may prevent reader to instantly recognize Stephen Schwartz subjective and groundless interpretation of history.
His comic conclusions, and irresponsible pro-Albanian propaganda are only surpassed by his blunt and mindless hatred of anything and everything that is Slavic.
Don't waste your money...

Considering its location, in the continent considered as the hearth of modern knowledge, culture and science, there hardly exists any other place about which the world knows less than Kosovo. So every attempt to enlighten this obscure part of Europe should be congratulated. The matter becomes even more important after one of the most recent wars, where NATO, the world's biggest and best-equipped military force, was involved.
Schwartz begins with discussing the origins of Albanians and Slavs, their first historical evidences about the inhabitation of the region, and their encounter from the Slavic invasion of the Balkans throughout the Ottoman era. He then goes through the post Balkan Wars and the two World Wars - when Serbia conquered and consolidated its rule over Kosovo, backed by the victorious powers, as a reward for being their war ally. Kosovo was added to the big newly formed YugoSlavia, and with the isolation of its motherland Albania by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha who did or could do nothing about Kosovo; it was left alone like an orphan amidst Slavs, its eternal enemy. The author in the following section focuses on this part properly, since it forced Kosovars (as the Kosovo Albanians are called) to rely on and organize among themselves, under the continuously growing discrimination and pressure by Slavs. Lastly, Schwartz analyses the post-communist period, overloaded with significant developments for this case. Loss of trust to nonviolence resistance, which was surprisingly "rewarded" with massacres by the Milosevic regime, led to the formation of Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK). This is the starting point of armed conflict between Serbs and Albanians, which brought NATO airpower on the skies of Yugoslavia for 78 days.
The author could do better in the last chapter 1999 - Intervention and its aftermath. He is not able to make a clear analysis of the consequences of the intervention, probably because time is needed for these fresh events, whose impact goes on even today, to become pure history. He could also give some alternative or prediction about the final status of Kosovo, which is still unresolved and unknown even to those interested most: the Kosovars, the West, and the Balkan countries.
But Schwartz has special merits for successfully referring to and examining both Slavic and Albanian non/official sources, considering the huge inconsistencies among them, to make the book clear and highly readable. He also seems to successfully reach his goal of writing this book, giving a "background to a war", by analyzing and combining history, culture and even myths or other psychological factors, which contributed to the formation of the identities involved in the conflict. He extracts old and new, well-known and usually unknown facts and evidences to many of the Westerners and even domestic inhabitants, evaluates and serves them in a easily comprehendible fashion to all readers who want to have an insight in the case.
So the book deserves an important place among many of the books that are being written recently about Kosovo. It is highly recommendable especially to those exploring the conflict in depth since "it is drawn on sources previously ignored by non-Balkan authors" and maintains an impartial position, different from that of Balkan writers who advocate their own or particular group/countries' interests.
Klediol Murati, June 11, 2003
IR Student, Middle East Technical University

KOSOVO: Background to a War (UK) by Stephen Schwartz provides a concise yet detailed account of the main historical and cultural political currents that created the necessity for the NATO intervention and occupation. Schwartz is an especially astute observer of telling historical parallels and refined ethnic sensibilities, probably because he speaks the languages and makes himself available to discuss the political and religious implications with soldiers, politicians, scholars and common people. The study represents a political analysis of the central issues between the Serbs and Albanians that continues to exasperate the area.

Unlike many political commentaries this work provides glimpses of the history, culture, literature, poetry and passion of the people making this account rich read with the narrative flow of a novel.

"Return to Independence" is perhaps one of the most unique books on the topic of Estonia. It is one part historical account, one part autobiography, and one part personal polemic. Taagepera mixes concise, academic prose with a dose of literary caprice when relating personal anecdotes and ingenious metaphors, resulting in a book about much more than the Estonian national identity, or the Estonian struggle for freedom from the USSR. Rather, this book is about of the indomitability of the human spirit, and the fuel to that spirit that we know as freedom.

Very good book, interesting history review of the past, but a little bit PROPAGANDA sounding end, anyway, the excellent source for those who is interested in Estonian history.

This book is a collection of discrete essays on the theme of the Baltic or Northern wars. In the period following the end of the crusading in the Baltic region four key players emerged to contend for control of the crusader states. These were Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Poland/Lithuania.

Frost analyses the rises and falls of the influence of each of the states over time with regard to a number of factors.
1. He looks at the makeup of the military machines in each state. The ratio of professional and conscript soldiers. The makeup of the officer corps. The percentage of cavalry to infantry. The adoption of firearms, the development of the Huzzar to replace heavy cavalry, the failure of early mounted musketeers against Polish cavalry shock tactics and the ability of well drilled infantry to frustrate cavalry ambitions as practiced by the Swedes.
2. He looks at the relationship between ruler and state, from the wholly autocratic Russian system to the almost democratic Polish and Lithuanian system. The income of ruler and state such as the ability of Danish kings to act autonomously of their parliament due to the money from sound dues etc.
3. He looks (most interesting to me) at the ability of nations to fund war. The cost of standing armies and mercenaries. The need to vote extraordinary funds to armies in times of national peril. The difference in support given to rulers by landowner classes in periods of defence against an agressive neighbour and in periods of national expansion. His analysis of the economics of war is where Frost excels.
4. He also places the northern wars in their temporal, historical and geographical context by commenting on the developments in Western Europe, the 30 years war, the wars of the protestant reformation, the expansion of the Ottoman Turks in the south of the region, the incursions by Tatars from the asian steppes etc.
5. He analyses the impact of war on the societal makeup of the countries in the region. How landownership and serfdom developed, the evolution of the Cossack class, and so on.

If you are looking for an adventure story about knights charging into battle this is probably not the book for you. If you are looking for real history on the different approaches that can be taken to wage war, and how these strategies played out in short and long term, then this is a very useful read.

Because they are discrete essays it is possible to deal with them one at a time. Although the essays move chronologically through time, they deal with different sets of players and different types of tensions. Frost strives to uncover why any given set of strategies was successful in the time period where they worked.

... what more could one possibly ask for in 400 pages? Between 1558 and 1720 the Baltic region was in an almost constant state of war. It began as a quadrangular contest for hegemony, Denmark vs. Russia vs. Sweden vs. Poland, and marked the evolution, in three of these states, of a modern military system led by an autocratic ruler. The unwillingness of fourth, Poland-Lithuania, to adapt its constitution and embrace a militarized state, led directly to its demise. Frost is quick, however, to combat the "traditional" Western history which is dismissive of Eastern military tactics and glibly attributes Russia's early setbacks and Poland's later humiliation to supposed "backwardness." As he explains, the great institutions of the East, such as the Polish cavalry, owed their existence to local conditions and geography. Nor was there any intrinsic reason why Tsarist Russia, as opposed to another political unit, should emerge victorious in the end. The one intriguing element in this drama is the rapid emergence and equally precipitous collapse of Sweden: the first mention of King Charles XII, doomed genius of the North, will quicken the pulse of even the most jaded reader. This is a great piece of scholarly writing.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in international politics, not just those who like to read about WW2. The author, in an easy to read and well-illustrated work, looks at the grim reality behind the closing battles of WW2. Some of the stories in here are horrifying and show that the allied forces carried out terrible atrocities in their rush to finsh the war against the Nazis and, perhaps, to punish the German people. A shocking read but one for all of us who have never experienced warfare. The lessons in here also apply to modern conflicts, such as Iraq and Kosovo.

I have found this dictionary/phrase book very helpful, as an English-speaker trying to learn the basics. The vocabulary is not extensive, but it contains many phrases organised according to category. It would be especially good for anyone working, especially with NGOs, in Albania and/or Kosovo/a, as it includes phrases regarding safety, emergencies, etc. An Albanian friend of mine has found it useful as a supplement to his English-Albanian, Albanian-English dictionary, again because it provides easily accessible phrases.

I enjoy using this dictionary, however there it is plagued in incompletenesses. For example, on p.11, the Transliteration Guide is incomplete. Otherwise a pretty good source; wish it included more words.

Glenny's The Balkans is easily the best work on the subject in print to date. While managing to stay above the fray of inter-ethnic rivalries, Glenny provides a clear picture of modern Balkan history, arguing that the troubles the region suffers from is not the result of years of mutual ethnic hatereds, but rather the result of constant interference by the Great Powers (whomever that may be at the time.) The book is just short of encyclopedic - its depth and scope can be overwhelming at times. Nonetheless, I found it a fascinating read. Glenny looks beyond "Yugoslavia" in his study of the Balkans, giving attention to Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania as players (and victims) in the "Eastern Quesiton." This is as it should be. His argument about "outside forces" interfereing with the nationalistic development of the Balkan peoples is convinving. Yet there are flaws. The Slovenes are hardly addressed at all; one would think they warrant at least some consideration in any discussion of the area. Comparitively little time is spent on Romania and Bulgaria after the Second World War, and even less is devoted to the sticky issues of the Vojvodina, Banat and Backa - all of which face similar issues with Serbia as Kossovo does. My final criticism is his all too brief treatment and hasty analysis of the "disintegration" of Yugoslavia in the early 90's. With that said, I recommend this book to the serious reader or student of the region only. The information is dense, the history is complicated, and the major players (within and without the Balkans) can confuse the uninitiated. I am confident you will enjoy The Balkans as much as I did.

Misha Glenny's The Balkans is an outstanding effort to make sense of the current imbroglio by placing it into historical context. Too many people have no understanding of the region's past, so the temptation to conclude that "those people have hated one another for a thousand years" legitimizes sensationalized media reports. Glenny's intent to prove otherwise resulted in this provocative and engrossing account.

Glenny argues there is no historical basis for national hatreds visible today. During the Ottoman period Serb and Croat, Muslim and Christian lived side by side with little hostile interaction. Religion and culture superseded political identities in defining Balkan society. Glenny does not dispute the theory that the Ottoman Empire was the "sick man of Europe" but the Ottomans did provide a stabilizing presence in the area, even after the Serb rebellion of 1804.

However, Balkan history is far from benign. War has always been a determinant in the political landscape. Unfortunately, brutal murder, rape, and carnage were characteristics that survived modernizing efforts. Throughout the 19th century, individual Balkan groups took on the Ottomans (Serbia in 1804, Greece from 1821-30, Croatia in 1848) with varying outcomes, but it was not until 1885 that two Balkan nations first fought one another. Beginning in 1878, but particularly after 1885, the storm that eventually became World War One began to take shape. Soon the whole world was impacted by Balkan history. But the Balkans were not solely responsible for any of the world's conflicts, and they certainly do not have a monopoly on war-related atrocities.

Yet this does not mean present Serb-Croat and/or Bosnian tensions were inevitable. In fact, Glenny writes of specific dates when Serbs and Croats came to blows (as in World War Two, 1967, or after 1991) but implies the interim there was relatively calm. Bosnia is specifically discussed at certain points (1908, 1914, 1992) but it is not a scene of nonstop bloodletting.

Glenny's work reflects a masterful understanding of his subject. Many readers may learn of events for the first time. The Greek-Turkish War of 1921-3, or the several pre1999 incidents of conflicts over Kosovo are examples. A Serb bias is noticeable, and his portrayal of Stalin as cooperative with the West detracts somewhat from the book, but the overall effort is excellent. The Balkans should be considered by anyone interested in southeast Europe.

Glenny presents a very refreshing, well-planned, and very readable general survery of modern Balkan history. Starting out with a discussion of the "West's" Orientalist outlook on the Balkans, Glenny sets out to discuss the region's history with a view to correct many of the misconceptions developed in the popular foreign discourse on the region.

Glenny's extensive discussion of the history of the non-Yugoslav nations is also appreciated, as the history of these nations has often been forgotten, despite their historical involvement with the Yugoslav state.

Having lived and travelled in the Balkans, I can say from personal experiences and encounters that Glenny conveys an accurate, and relatively unbiased account of the region's rich history. This book is a MUST for anyone interested in understanding the past, present, and future of this most interesting region. It is a shame that most of the policy makers, and journalists involved with the region have not read this book -- a fact made plain by their often skewed coverage.