Burn This House: The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia

FROM THE PUBLISHER

AUTHOR BIO:
Jasminka Udovicki is Professor of Sociology at the Massachusetts College of Art. James Ridgeway is Washington correspondent for the Village Voice.

SYNOPSIS

Burn This House is the first book in English to represent the critical, non-nationalist voices inside the former Yugoslavia. Written primarily by Muslim, Croatian, and Serbian journalists and historians, this collection relies on the perspective of the people who live there to portray the chain of events that have led to the current genocidal wars in the heart of Europe. These essays elucidate the Balkan tragedy while directing attention toward the antiwar movement and the work of the independent media that has been largely ignored by the U.S. press. They show that, contrary to descriptions by the Western media, the roots of the warring lie not in ancient Balkan hatreds but rather in a specific set of sociopolitical circumstances that occurred after the death of Tito and culminated at the end of the Cold War.

In bringing together these essays, Serbian-born sociologist Jasminka Udovicki and Village Voice Washington correspondent James Ridgeway provide essential historical background for understanding the recent turmoil in Croatia and Bosnia and expose the catalytic role played by the propaganda of a powerful few on both sides of what eventually became labeled an ethnic dispute. In her introduction, Udovicki terms the most persuasive vehicle of such communications "ethno-kitsch" and describes such instances as the "turbo-folk-rock" that flooded the airwaves in the mid-1980s and the slogans chanted by fans of favorite national football clubs. The chapters that follow illuminate the sociological complexity and unique conditions that underlie the continuing tragedy of the former Yugoslavia.
Contributors. Milan Milosevic, Branka Prpa-Jovanovic, Stipe Sikavica, Mirko Tepavac, Ivan Torov, Jasminka Udovicki, Susan Woodward

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

This anthology is based on the premise that authors from the former Yugoslavia have yet much to teach us about their country's tragedy. The result is a collection of rich insights drawn from the history of Ottoman rule through the burdens of implementing the Dayton Accords. Specialists will particularly applaud articles revealing the critical importance of the current opposition press in Croatia and Serbia. Susan Woodward (Brookings), the single non-Yugoslav contributor, adds an excellent chapter on foreign involvement in the early phases of the conflict. Other contributors sharpen our image of the overall situation by demolishing the "ancient hatreds" thesis of violent conflict and identifying President Tudjman's "ultranationalism" as the "single most important ideological resource" for Serbia's Milosevic. Editor Udovicki's concluding plea for the West to enunciate clearly a "firm universal principle" of minority rights is compelling. Highly recommended for all academic and larger public libraries.Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ.-Erie

Times Literary Supplement

A superb collection. . . . The courage, vigour and fair-mindedness which have survived in so many Yugoslavs through years of war and hysterical propaganda are all on display in Burn This House, by far the best book on the conflict that I have read so far. . . . True to its subtitle, this book gives a masterly account of the making as well as the unmaking of Yugoslavia. . . .￯﾿ﾽ-(Richard West, Times Literary Supplement)

Slavic and East European Journal

[A] solid collection of articles for non-specialists. . . .-￯﾿ﾽ(Julia Mitric, Slavic and East European Journal)

Holt Uncensored

The early chapters make the impossibly dense history of the Balkan peninsula clear at last, while fresh insights abound about Yugoslavia￯﾿ﾽs birth ￯﾿ﾽin the chaos and blood of World War I￯﾿ﾽ and about the Tito regime during and following World II. . . . By the time we get inside the present-day Balkans, we￯﾿ﾽve learned how to see past the nationalistic slogans of politically controlled media and into the kind of ethnic cleansing only those who live there can adequately describe. . . . [Y]ou￯﾿ﾽll know why this war is never going to be ￯﾿ﾽover.￯﾿ﾽ

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING