The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804-2012

If you only read one book on the Balkans this is the one you should read. Glenny takes us through the rise of the Balkans following their separation from the Ottoman Empire through the present day break up of Yugoslavia. The fall of communism is well illustrated as is the struggle between Russia and Austria for mastery of the region. The establishment of Bulgaria as the "super power" of the Balkans by the Russians is illustrated in the comical light that it was at the time. This book does an excellent job of thoroughly covering the salient points in the region and doing so with wonderful prose. This is an incredibly troubled area and understanding that this area was created out of conflict is essential for studying the region today. This is great for an expert or a beginner. Regardless of how much you've looked at the Balkans this is a must have for any European history library.

In a literate, knowledgeable, and comprehensive monograph that accomplishes the incredible feat of clarifying and organizing the seemingly endless complexities of the region, Misha Glenny sets the record straight regarding the history and prospects for the Balkans. In a history going back two hundred years, Glenny illustrates how the current miasma of internecine violence, endless distrust, and legendary duplicity arose out of the mix and conflicts of ethnicities as well as the gross intermittent interference of the great powers. Far from flying with the angels, efforts by other nations such as Germany, NATO, and especially the United States have intensified and exacerbated the region's tensions and proclivities toward murderous intramural conflicts.While to the casual foreign observer the region has long been a source of mysterious political arrangements and impenetrable complexities, the author lays to waste all of the West's convenient and self-serving notions describing the inhabitants of the Balkans as less than civilized, and shows how the nature of the troubles in the region can be traced to the arbitrary and capricious meddling foisted onto the residents from outside, usually by international agencies ignorant of the various ethnic mixes and profound historical connections standing in the way. Probably the single best example of this often well intentioned ignorance is the Dayton Peace Accords, which the author claims effectively partitioned Bosnia and Herzegovina without adequately solving any of the core problems underlying the ethnic unrest in the area. As a consequence, Glenny states, peace will reign in Bosnia only as long as the UN troops remain. The author pulls few punches, describing recent American policies as cowardly and selfish, fashioned more to attempt to meet their obligations without risking troops and the concomitant domestic political trouble the probable loss of American servicemen would mean. Indeed, he describes the colossal blunder of NATO in stating that there would be no engagement of ground troops in Kosovo as flashing a green light for Serbian troops to have their indiscriminate bloodbath and deny it too. In a chilling extraordinary passage describing recent international attitudes dominated by short-term political convenience and its consequences for the region, Glenny quotes Swedish mediator Carl Bildt as prophetically asking that if the world chose to ignore the atrocities of the incumbent and did not prosecute Croatian President Tudjman for ethnic cleansing, "how on earth can we object if one day Milosevic sends his army to clean out the Albanians from Kosovo?"The author's narrative is immensely educational and useful for those of us less than fully familiar with the region, tracing the progress of each national group amid the ongoing struggles for statehood. His description is punctuated with provocative and fascinating stories illustrating the rich variety of peo

Finally a book that doesn't demonize Serbs but that gives a realistic view. It is good to see that people start to realize that that the "great powers" are also very much accountable for the suffering and the nationalism in this region. Mister Glenny wrote in his introduction that there might be mistakes in the book, there are. But I think that people their understanding of the situation in the Balkans will expand because of this book. Because this book also critisizes the west and people (not a nation) that are in governments, it is right to say that this book earns 5 stars. My only reccomandation to the author if possible is to request a translation of this book in the Serbo-Croatian language. So that the common person in any of the former Republics and in the FRY may learn of these things on a objective way.

As a student of international relations, if I had to recommend one book on understanding this sad and complex region, I would recommend "The Balkans." Misha Glenny writes with an authority that comes with having had a great deal of experience in the region. He eschews trite, simplistic analysis by tracing the region's troubles through the history of the Balkans involvement as a theater of intrigue for the great powers. An enormously informative and captivating read.

In recent years, there have been many books published about specific areas of the Balkans (particularly, the countries of the former Yugoslavia), but no one book (other than Robert Kaplan's travelogue "Balkan Ghosts") has attempted to tackle the entire Balkan region, taken as a group. Misha Glenny's latest work does this admirably well, and has instantly become the most comprehensive, and comprehensible, book available regarding this fascinating region.Misha Glenny is no newcomer to the Balkans, and some readers may be familiar with his "The Fall of Yugoslavia" which recounted the principal events leading to the breakup of Yugoslavia. However, here Glenny is focussed on surveying the major events of Balkan history over the past 200 years, drawing together the similar threads that play through various countries, while pointing out the important differences that led to different outcomes in various parts of the region. In particular, Glenny focuses on the relationship between the Balkan region and the countries outside that region, and the impact that this relationship has had in the past and continues to have on the region today. In this sense, the book is very timely and sheds much light on the present situation.Unlike the extremely popular "Balkan Ghosts", Glenny simply doesn't buy the notion that the recent conflicts in the Balkans are principally the result of ancient ethno-religious hatreds and stubborn intractibility, but instead forcefully and convincingly argues that the carnage that we see today is the product of relatively recent Balkan history, which itself has been greatly influenced by powers beyond the Balkans. The book is convincing in its thesis, breathtakingly broad in its scope (it covers the entire region, including the former Yugolavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece), and yet fascinating in its attention to detail and the individual events and personages who have shaped the history of this corner of Europe. This is simply a great history book, hands down. Anyone who wants to understand the Balkan region would be well-advised to purchase and read this remarkable book.