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
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.
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. Miloevic'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.