Very poor
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I was interested in the Balkan countries and I wanted to learn a little bit about them so I bought this book. I jumped straight in and it was very hard going. I'm sorry to the author that I am not an expert like he is on the subject, I guess he presumes every reader that picks up this book to be one. I'm sure all the facts are correct but I think he needs to be a little bit picky about how he presents them. Nearly every sentence there was information on things the general reader would know nothing about, without even a preliminary introduction to the subject. Things like wars, army leaders etc - were all in a tone that presumed everyone was following him yet he hadn't even given any background information - it was all very disjointed and confusing.
This kind of book really annoys me as he obviously hasn't put any thought into how to put the information across in a format the reader would most enjoy and more importantly would easily understand. I gave up after the first chapter.
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Unbalanced coverage of events
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The author is very analytical & descriptive in many chapters of the book & is giving a vivid picture of each period & region. But he leapfrogs from episode to episode which makes reading difficult if you do not know the basics of Balkan history. Emphasis is given on Jugoslavian affairs,in which he is proficient; while he neglects Greece, especially in the 19th century.
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If you want to understand the Balkans, then read this book!
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The Balkans, Europe's disorderly corner, is full of history and most of it is confused and not well understood. Western countries know very little about the region, yet many seem to have an opinion without much understanding of why the region and the peoples living there are causing so much trouble to the "orderly" world of western civilization. This book will certainly help enlighten many who don't understand the region and why it is, and will probably remain, Europe's disorderly corner for many more generations to come.
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Superb!
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I believe that this book is even better than Glenny's first book "Fall of Yugoslavia". It is a book which offers so much in a single volume! You will certainly not find a book with such a comprehensive history of the Balkan region. Glenny is also a breath of fresh air, from all those one-sided historians and journalists who simply demonise Serbs. Starting from 1804 and covering the entire period to 1999, at the price it's an absolute bargain, particularly since there are very few books of this quality and magnitude. Granted, I do not recommend this book for those who would like some basic reading on the subject and like to finish the book in a night or two. This book took me plenty of time to read and I'm glad that I read it.
It does contain ALOT of facts about peasant uprisings, Communist revolutions, skirmishes, leaders, wars, concentration camps and many other things and it is hard to incorporate all this information into memory. However, that does not change the fact that it is a superb book!
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a narrative history of the Balkans
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This book gives a detailed account of the history of the Balkans in the last two centuries. Unfortunately, the book suffers from three major drawbacks. First, the author by and large amasses a vast amount of facts and presents them to the reader in chronological order. It is essentially a narrative, not an analysis. While this may be understandable as the author is a journalist, the general reader -who presumably is not interested in the details of every peasant uprising that took place on the penninsula- very quickly loses the "big picture". Secondly, the author more often than not rushes to express (frequently moralistic) judgements on issues that are as yet unsettled in the scholarly literature.
Overall, the book is hardly suitable for a reader seeking to obtain an understanding of the dynamics that have shaped the region's past and present. For those already aquainted with Balkan history, Misha Glenny's book may still serve as a reference volume.
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United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada