Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars

Readers of Merrill's book will find it useful for making sense of the events in the former Yugoslavia -- a region with too much history for its own good. Anyone who questioned how neighbors could end up at opposite ends of a gun will find answers here. Merrill explores cultural history -- the stories and sentiments that bind a people despite the political borders -- as he seeks to answer for himself how such barbaric and senseless destruction could happen. This book offers insights rarely found in contemporary writings on the Balkans.

The previous review, by someone who admits to not reading the book, should be wholly discounted. Although no current book on the Balkans can compete with Robert D. Kaplan's incomparable "Balkan Ghosts," Christopher Merrill eloquently describes the mood, psychology, and turmoil of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. I only wish that the book were a bit heavier on the historical background. However, it is refreshing to read a more human account of the effects of post-modern progress than the usual detached historical rendering. Merrill's work is to be praised, an attitude which can only be adopted after actually reading the book.