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Title: Bosnia and Hercegovina by Robert J. Donia, John V. A. Fine Jr. ISBN: 0-231-10160-0 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $50.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Readable...debunks myth about "ancient ethnic hatreds"
Comment: The history of Bosnia and the Third balkan War have both mystified the American public. Few Americans take the time to understand that Bosnia's history and its inter-ethnic relations between Croats, Serbs, and Muslims are quite complex. Many subscribe to the myth that "Serbs, Croats and Muslims have been killing each other for thousands of years. Why worry about it now?" Ray Bradbury,had said during a program of "Politically Incorrect" that such was the tragic case of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Donia and Fine's book systematically, clearly, and convincingly pointed out that such was not the case in Bosnia. They pointed out that Serbs, Croats, and Muslims basically got along well with each other for centuries. The people of Bosnia converted not only to Islam during the Ottoman occupation, but to Catholocism and Orthodoxy as well. Certainly, Muslims received better political treatment during the occupation from the Porte, but Croats (Catholics) and Serbs (Orthodox) were not as malignantly treated as the vitriolic nationalist Milosevic would like the world to believe.
Serbs and Croats did not become antagonistic with one another until 1878, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Bosnia. This occupation drove a wedge between them and by the early twentieth century, some minor bloodshed occurred between Croatian and Serbian nationalists in Zagreb. Even still, it was not even close to the genocide of the Third Balkan War.
However, hundreds of thousands of Serbs were killed during the German and Italian occupation of Bosnia during Workd War II. (Some Serbs say 1 million, some Croats cite 200,000 as the figure.)One can safely argue that the twentieth century was the only century for bloodshed between the peoples of the Bosnia.
Most of all, Donia and Fine make it clear to the reader that one should not dismiss Bosnia because its tradition of mutual tolerance has been lost. Submitting to the notion that there is no reason why anyone should be concerned about Bosnia because they hav! e "always been bloodthirsty" only gave the Bosnian Serbs the go-ahead to massacre its neighbors. This dismissive attitude was present among American diplomats throughout the war, and with their indecision about putting ground troops only prolonged it. Furthermore, American diplomats believed that the Vance-Owen Plan ratified ethnic cleansing, and they were unwilling to pressure the Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic with the Plan and to support the EC and its approval of the Plan. As flawed as the Plan was, no one but Cyrus Vance and Lord David Owen came up with anything better. At the time (1993), it seemed as though this was the only option the world had. Unfortunately, the United States refused to deploy ground troops to defend the Plan. I wonder what may have happened if the World cooperated to put a stop to this ethnic cleansing with the defense of the Plan. Perhaps the world would not have had to witness the horrors of Srebrenica.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dated, but still good
Comment: Since this book was written with the express intent of being a short historical survey menat to clearly and concisely refute a number of widely-held misconceptions about Bosnia and the Bosnian Muslims, I find of the criticisms below (that the book is insubstantial, does not contain enough facts, etc.) misplaced. For those who want more detail, the authors thoughtfully provided a "further reading" list at the end of the book. Otherwise, Donia and Fine have done a commendable job of summarizing Bosnia's complicated history, as well as clarifying the origins of the Bosnian Muslims. Perhaps the book can be faulted for being overly passionate in its arguments in support of the much-contested specific Bosnian national identity, but the authros were writing under the influence of the often incorrect characterization of Bosnian society that was being presented by much of the media (both ex-Yugoslav and international) during the early 1990s. Alhtough a strong case can be made for the existence ofa distinct Bosnian national character, the communal bonds between the country's three main groups (Muslim, Croat and Serb) and between the more cosmopolitan cities and the surrounding rural communities, were not strong enough at the time the war broke out to hold Bosnian society together. This is the tragedy of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the authors did much to explain this. Despite the book's summary of the war being dated by subsequent events (it was published in 1994, before the signing of the Dayton Accords), it is still a much better source of information on Bosnia and its tragic war than much of the clap-trap written on the former Yugoslavia (i.e. books by Misha Glenny or Robert Kaplan) that is still being widely read and recommended even today.
Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty good popular history, but not best
Comment: A good, popular history, written by two leading experts. Their story begins in the Middle Ages and ends in early 1994. I personally like Noel Malcom's short history a bit better, but this one is also good. Donia and Fine, like Malcom are critical of the international community, accusing its representatives of issuing "idle threats" and "(distorting) the nature of the conflict to justify inaction." (I would give it another half star, if it were possible for me to do so.)
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Title: The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920 (History of East Central Europe, Vol 8) by Charles Jelavich, Barbara Jelavich ISBN: 0295964138 Publisher: University of Washington Press Pub. Date: October, 1987 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Being Muslim the Bosnian Way by Tone Bringa ISBN: 0691001758 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 30 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: SLAUGHTERHOUSE : Bosnia and the Failure of the West by David Rieff ISBN: 0684819031 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 08 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia by Tim Judah, Timothy Judah ISBN: 0300085079 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Balkans: Nationalism, War & the Great Powers, 1804-1999 by Misha Glenny ISBN: 0140233776 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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