Synopses & Reviews
The Yugoslav breakup and conflict gave rise to a considerable body of literature with dramatically different interpretations of the causes of the dissolution. But, how do these various interpretations relate to each other? Sabrina Ramet, a veteran Yugoslav authority, reviews and analyzes more than 130 books dealing with the region that comprises the former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo. Included among the reviews are books in English, German, Serbian/Croatian, and Italian, offering the English-speaking reader access to the principal ideas and theories first published in these languages. This ambitious work promises to be uniquely helpful to the specialist as well as the general reader seeking to understand the causes of the Yugoslav breakup.
Review
"[This book] presents an extremely erudite, insightful and perceptive interpretation of the controversial topics surrounding the wars of Yugoslav succession of the 1990s... Ramet's volume is destined to become the most authoritative reference source on Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav studies."
H-War, Emilian Kavalski, Department of Political Science, University of Alberta, Canada
Review
"...a tour de force of extensive reading, commentary, and insight that encounters most of the scholarly controversies surrounding these brutal wars...Everyone who reads it will come away better informed about the amazing breadth of the rich scholarship on the Yugoslav wars." -- Gale Stokes, Rice University, in RUSSIAN REVIEW
Review
"This is the most comprehensive attempt yet to catalog the rival accounts of and controversies over the Balkan wars...The impressive number of works analyzed is matched by an equally impressive scope of the themes covered...All in all, Ramet's study is an invaluable guide for students of Balkan politics." -- Denisa Kostovicova and Vesna Bojicic-Dzelilovic, in INTERNATIONALE POLITIK
Review
"Ramet arranges the diverse answers of American, German, English, Croatian, Serbian, and other authors (to controversial questions). She describes the often diametrically different positions succinctly..." -- Dunja Melcic, in KOMUNE
Synopsis
A unique survey of the evidence and academic debates surrounding the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Synopsis
Thinking about Yugoslavia offers an overview of the debates on the causes of the Yugoslav break-up and the conflicts that followed during the 1990s. Eminent scholar Sabrina Ramet reviews and analyses the reasons the country dissolved into war, the question of responsibility, the culpability of the international community, and the debates concerning humanitarian intervention. No other book undertakes so ambitious a task; as a result, Thinking about Yugoslavia promises to be uniquely helpful to the specialist seeking to understand the crisis.
Synopsis
Thinking about Yugoslavia offers an ambitious overview of the debates on the causes of the Yugoslav break-up and the conflicts that followed during the 1990s. This unique survey by eminent scholar Sabrina Ramet reviews and analyses more than 130 books on all the key areas of debate.
About the Author
Sabrina P. Ramet is a Professor of Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, and a Senior Associate of the Centre for the study of Civil War, PRIO. She is the author of nine books, including Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milosevic (4th ed 2002).
Table of Contents
Preface; List of books reviewed; 1. Debates about the war; 2. The collapse of Eastern European communism; 3. The roots of the Yugoslav collapse; 4. Who's to blame? Rival accounts of the war; 5. Memoirs and autobiographies; 6. The scourge of nationalism and the quest for harmony; 7. Milo∫evic's place in history; 8. Dilemmas in post-Dayton Bosnia; 9. Crisis in Kosovo/a; 10. Debates about intervention; 11. Lands and peoples: Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia; 12. Southern Republics: Macedonia and Montenegro in contemporary history; Conclusion: Controversies, methodological disputes and suggested reading.