Explaining Yugoslavia

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Yugoslavia and its history are often in the news yet poorly understood. Traversing the politics, economics, demography, and culture of the former Yugoslavia, John B. Allcock examines and makes sense of the region´s troubled past and troubling present. Though many think of the Balkans as a uniquely troubled region, the author asserts that the continuities in Balkan history constitute the same processes of development that have occurred in other societies and are part of the ongoing process of global modernization.One can read here about the rise of the Balkan states and the decline of the great powers; the decline of the small Balkan states and the rise of the great powers; backwardness and modernization; Yugoslavia´s kings and communists; civil wars and uncivil manners; Partisans, Chetniks, and Ustashas; Stalinism and Titoism; Marxist dogmatists and liberal reformers; migrations and population flux; Ottoman Turkish rule and anti-Muslim prejudice; the plight of the peasants and anti-modernizing policies of peasant parties; the difficult "Eastern Question" and the naive Western answers; the formation of national identity and the collapse of Yugoslavia; and much more.

SYNOPSIS

Traversing the politics, economics, demography, and culture of the former Yugoslavia, John B. Allcock examines and makes sense of the region´s troubled past and troubling present. Though many think of the Balkans as a uniquely troubled region, the author asserts that the continuities in Balkan history constitute the same processes of developme

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Review of Books

There is much more of interest in Allcock's sophisticated and intelligent book. He has sensible and reasonable arguments for the weakness of civil society.

Library Journal

Allcock (history, Univ. of Bradford, U.K.) fulfills the promise of his book's title in a way that will surprise most readers. He enjoys a command of source material and social science unparalleled in a single volume, outpacing even Misha Glenny (The Balkans), whose experience with current policy is unequalled but whose work is not on the same scholarly level. The book's scope ranges from the imperial heritage of economic marginality and political fragmentation to the obscurity of present national symbolism. In his narrative, the author develops and applies recurring concepts such as economic dependency, class decapitation, massification, citizenship, and legitimate violence. The usefulness of such ideas is found in his careful analysis of regional variation and the discussion of such relevant theorists as Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Anthony Giddens, and Michel Foucault. In turn, the internal dimensions of the Yugoslav phenomenon is given coherence through these "wider processes of modernization and globalization." A set of concluding "theses" projects the attributes likely to encumber Yugoslavia's successors. The book's assertions will provoke controversy, but its breadth is unchallenged. Recommended for all academic and public libraries.-Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie

Booknews