Synopses & Reviews
"A dispassionate, intelligent introduction to the civil war that has destroyed the former Yugoslavia. . . Bennett has the good fortune to speak both Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian, a skill that has enabled him to draw heavily on literature of the region that would be unavailable to most American or British journalists.
Kirkus Reviews
"An absolutely excellent must-read study . . . . It overflows with fresh insight and clarity on each page."
Library Journal
"This informative study describes how the Serbs . . . disarmed Slovenian and Croatian forces in May 1990, leaving the territories they had protected virtually defenseless. . . Bennett calls `unpardonable' the refusal of the international community to protect innocent victims of the Serbian rampage in Bosnia-Herzegovina."
Publisher's Weekly
Over the past two years, the entire world watched in horror as one of Europe's most stable countries plunged into an orgy of violence and bloodshed that has invoked comparisons to the Holocaust. Aside from empty threats and diplomatic hand wringing, the West has done little to stop the ethnic cleansing, the sieges, and the brutality that has characterized the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Contrary to common wisdom, the hyper-violent disintegration of the former Yugoslavia is not simply and exclusively the product of inherent and irrational ethnic animosities and centuries of strife. In this engaging book, journalist Christopher Bennett traces the turning point to the 1987 struggle within the Serbian Communist party which was between adherents of a Serb nationalist ideology -embodied by Slobodan Milosevic- and the other Yugoslavs who clung to the vision of a multinational state. As soon as Milosevic gained the upper hand, he ruthlessly purged his rivals and launched a massive campaign of media indoctrination to stir up Serb nationalism. This new nationalism, which has repelled the world since 1991, is primarily Milosevic's creation and not merely the result of historical enmity. As a student at two different Yugoslav universities in the 1980's, Bennett witnessed firsthand many if the critical events which contributed to Yugoslavia's destruction. He renders an incisive and accessible history, covering the period from Tito's dictatorship to the present day.
Table of Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
Guide to Pronunciation
Maps
1. Introduction
The Yugoslav Killing Fields
An inevitable disintegration?
Guilt
2. The South Slavs: Language, Culture, Lands
The Myths of History
National Revivals
The First World War
3. From Creation to Collapse to Rebirth
The first Yugoslavia
Dictatorship
The Second World War
4. Tito's Yugoslavia
The national question
Titoism
Society
5. The Tito Legacy
The Economy
1974 Constitution
The Serb question
6. Disintegration
Slobodan Milosevic
osovo
Milosevic's irresistible rise
The new Serb nationalism
The Slovene challenge
Collapse of Communism
7. Countdown to War
A third Yugoslavia
Ante Markovic's attempt to save Yugoslavia
Croatia awakes
JNA forges Serbian alliance
Independence
Unstoppable slide to war
8. War Slovenia fights
Croatia burns
International recognition
Bosnia erupts
Bosnia betrayed
Bosnia abandoned
9. Prospects
Serbia: the key
Vojvodina, Montenegro and the Sandzak
The Kosovo conundrum and the Macedonian question
Bosnia: savage reality
Croatia: the new regional power
Slovenia moves on
10. Conclusion
Limited intervention, huge expense, total failure
Myth and reality
The Yugoslav tragedy
Bibliographical Note
Index
Review
"A dispassionate, intelligent introduction to the civil war that has destroyed the former Yugoslavia. . . Bennett has the good fortune to speak both Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian, a skill that has enabled him to draw heavily on literature of the region that would be unavailable to most American or British journalists."
"An absolutely excellent must-read study . . . . It overflows with fresh insight and clarity on each page."
"This informative study describes how the Serbs . . . disarmed Slovenian and Croatian forces in May 1990, leaving the territories they had protected virtually defenseless. . . Bennett calls `unpardonable' the refusal of the international community to protect innocent victims of the Serbian rampage in Bosnia-Herzegovina."
Synopsis
An incisive and revealing history of how Yugoslavia plunged into violence in the 1990s
Over the past two years, the entire world watched in horror as one of Europe's most stable countries plunged into an orgy of violence and bloodshed that has invoked comparisons to the Holocaust. Aside from empty threats and diplomatic hand wringing, the West has done little to stop the ethnic cleansing, the sieges, and the brutality that has characterized the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Contrary to common wisdom, the hyper-violent disintegration of the former Yugoslavia is not simply and exclusively the product of inherent and irrational ethnic animosities and centuries of strife. In this engaging book, journalist Christopher Bennett traces the turning point to the 1987 struggle within the Serbian Communist party which was between adherents of a Serb nationalist ideology -embodied by Slobodan Milosevic- and the other Yugoslavs who clung to the vision of a multinational state. As soon as Milosevic gained the upper hand, he ruthlessly purged his rivals and launched a massive campaign of media indoctrination to stir up Serb nationalism. This new nationalism, which has repelled the world since 1991, is primarily Milosevic's creation and not merely the result of historical enmity. As a student at two different Yugoslav universities in the 1980's, Bennett witnessed firsthand many if the critical events which contributed to Yugoslavia's destruction. He renders an incisive and accessible history, covering the period from Tito's dictatorship to the present day.
Synopsis
Over the past two years, the entire world watched in horror as one of Europe's most stable countries plunged into an orgy of violence and bloodshed that has invoked comparisons to the Holocaust. Aside from empty threats and diplomatic hand wringing, the West has done little to stop the ethnic cleansing, the sieges, and the brutality that has characterized the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Contrary to common wisdom, the hyper-violent disintegration of the former Yugoslavia is not simply and exclusively the product of inherent and irrational ethnic animosities and centuries of strife. In this engaging book, journalist Christopher Bennett traces the turning point to the 1987 struggle within the Serbian Communist party which was between adherents of a Serb nationalist ideology -embodied by Slobodan Milosevic- and the other Yugoslavs who clung to the vision of a multinational state. As soon as Milosevic gained the upper hand, he ruthlessly purged his rivals and launched a massive campaign of media indoctrination to stir up Serb nationalism. This new nationalism, which has repelled the world since 1991, is primarily Milosevic's creation and not merely the result of historical enmity. As a student at two different Yugoslav universities in the 1980's, Bennett witnessed firsthand many if the critical events which contributed to Yugoslavia's destruction. He renders an incisive and accessible history, covering the period from Tito's dictatorship to the present day.
Synopsis
Over the past two years, the entire world watched in horror as one of Europe's most stable countries plunged into an orgy of violence and bloodshed that has invoked comparisons to the Holocaust. Aside from empty threats and diplomatic hand wringing, the West has done little to stop the ethnic cleansing, the sieges, and the brutality that has characterized the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Contrary to common wisdom, the hyper-violent disintegration of the former Yugoslavia is not simply and exclusively the product of inherent and irrational ethnic animosities and centuries of strife. In this engaging book, journalist Christopher Bennett traces the turning point to the 1987 struggle within the Serbian Communist party which was between adherents of a Serb nationalist ideology -embodied by Slobodan Milosevic- and the other Yugoslavs who clung to the vision of a multinational state. As soon as Milosevic gained the upper hand, he ruthlessly purged his rivals and launched a massive campaign of media indoctrination to stir up Serb nationalism. This new nationalism, which has repelled the world since 1991, is primarily Milosevic's creation and not merely the result of historical enmity. As a student at two different Yugoslav universities in the 1980's, Bennett witnessed firsthand many if the critical events which contributed to Yugoslavia's destruction. He renders an incisive and accessible history, covering the period from Tito's dictatorship to the present day.
Synopsis
The 1980s and 1990s have seen an unprecedented emphasis on global feminism, on the connectedness of women regardless of race, class, or geography. And yet, the status and position of women throughout the world remains enormously disparate. Even so fundamental an issue as a woman's right to vote has been--and in many countries continues to be--hotly contested. How then have suffrage movements evolved? What are the similarities and differences in the manner in which women, in a range of different economic, religious, and political contexts, have sought the vote?
Bringing together such eminent scholars as Nancy Cott, Ellen Dubois, and Carole Pateman, Suffrage and Beyond offers a comprehensive look at the political history of suffrage on a global scale.
About the Author
Journalist Christopher Bennettwas in Ljubljana when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in June 1991 and remained in the former Yugoslavia for the next 14 months. Since 1994, he has lectured in Yugoslav history at the University of London.