Ivo Banac is Professor of History and Master of Pierson College, Yale University.
An indispensable book on Yugoslavia and one of the most impressive
works on Eastern Europe for decades.
*The Economist*
Anyone interested in contemporary Yugoslavia must read this
excellent volume because no other book in any language sets forth
the issues in such stark and realistic terms. Unlike many other
books on the South Slav nationality problem, which analyze it more
from the perspective of the Serbs, Banac seeks to restore the
balance by looking at the problems through the eyes of the other
South Slavs, in particular the Croats, and this is the great
strength of the volume. Banac's outstanding book tells the story
with great clarity and deep understanding and appreciation for
South Slavic affairs.
*Journal of Modern History*
Banac's history of the peoples of Yugoslavia is comprehensive,
detached, and well timed. Banac begins his inquiry with an
examination of the terminology of nation, nationhood, and
nationality, which then proceeds to apply to the South Slavs,
drawing a distinction between the national identity of the Serbs,
Croats, and Bulgars, which was acquired before the development of
modern nationalism, and that of the Slovenes, Montenegrins,
Macedonians, and Muslims from Bosnia-Hercegovina, whose national
consciousness developed only in the nineteenth century.
*International Affairs*
Ivo Banac has written the most comprehensive, judicious, and
objective account of the origins, development, and politics of the
Yugoslav national question up to the aftermath of World War I that
exists in any language. What especially enhances the value of this
account is not only the author's thorough grasp of the political
intricacies of his subject but his erudite command of the cultural
factors.
*Slavic Review*
Ivo Banac's study of the origins of the national question in
Yugoslavia provides the substantive content necessary to return to
Yugoslav experience and to identify the national differences that
are being 'accommodated' by current political reform. It is also an
excellent starting point for those who want to study actual
cultures of rule in contemporary Yugoslavia.
*World Politics*
The greatest strength of Banac's book is the thoroughness and
accuracy with which he recounts the historical background, personal
factors, and ideological structures within which Yugoslav
politicians worked. Along with its other virtues, the book is a
pleasure to read. Banac has flair. In scope, detail, and
presentation, this book finds few equals in the literature of
Southeast Europe. It is simply one of the finest studies of the
region that Western scholarship has produced.
*American Historical Review*
Neither Banac's admirers nor his critics focused on the ways his
work engaged with debates about the nature of nationalism as a
historical phenomenon, or with its warnings about the future.
*American Historical Review*
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