Balkan Book List

Author	Title	Comments: Update November 11, 2006
Andric, Ivo	The Bridge on the Drina	This 1949 book is the classic modern Serb novel, written by a Croat from Bosnia. It won him the Nobel Prize and gives more insight than most history books.
Andric, Ivo	Bosnian Chronicle	Originally published under the title of "Days of the Consuls." It gives insight into ethnic disputes throughout the years. One of my three favorite writers on this list.
Bell, Martin	In Harm's Way, Reflections of a War-zone Thug.	Bell was, perhaps, the BBC's best war correspondent. He left the Beeb to run as an independent for the British Parliament AND WON (and since lost). In this book he doesn't have to be "objective" and isn't. The right of a retired journo.
Bujosevic, Dragan & Ivan Radovanoviv	October 5 -- A 24 - Hour Coup	This is drawn from "first person" accounts of the coup against Milosevic. While not complete, it is valuable because it is the first record of the events of October 5. It is published by the Belgrade Media Center with funding from IREX. The second English language edition is a better translation than the first.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace	The Other Balkan Wars: A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry.	A republication of the "Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars." It is a valuable source document with a new introduction by George F Kennan.
Carver, Robert	"The Accursed Mountains"	A travelogue published in 1999. We were in Albania at exactly the same time and saw the same events but we viewed them very differently. At times I wanted to throw the book out the window. But I can vouch for the things he saw. I just interpreted them differently.
Clancy, Tim	Bosnia & Herzegovina: The Bradt Travel Guide	I used this guide on my most recent trip to Sarajevo. It helped me find a good hotel and great local food at a low price. The map of Sarajevo left something to be desired
Collin, Matthew	This is Serbia Calling: Rock 'N Roll Radio and Belgrade's Underground Resistance.	This is a very readable book about B-92, Serbia's top independent radio station. It deals with B-92 from a cultural perspective rather than a political one. This makes it different from most books on the Balkans. It is the companion book for a BBC Radio 4 series. This book has been released in the US under the title Guerrilla Radio.
Chomsky, Noam	The New Military Humanism, Lessons from Kosovo	A polemic against NATO's bombing of Serbia and intervention in Kosovo.. While I find the reasoning faulty and contest some of his facts, his theory just may be right. I'm constantly amused that Chomsky is used by dictators from Meciar to Milosevic to justify themselves.
Drakulic, Slavenka	How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed.	Essays on the fall of communism before the wars of Yugoslav secession, well written and humorous, from a feminist perspective.
Drakulic, Slavenka	Balkan Express	The humor turns black, essays on the human side of the Balkan wars. A woman's personal struggle against nationalism. Get the second edition.
Drakulic, Slavenka	Café Europa	The best insight on living in post communist Europe I have read. Required reading for all my expat staff. My favorite writer on the list.
Drakulic, Slavenka	S	A novel set in a Bosnian concentration camp about the systematic rape of Moslem women. Shocking but important in giving the reader an understanding of what happened.
Drakulic, Slavenka	They Would Never Hurt a Fly	After she wrote "S" a German reader asked Ms. Drakulic if she was going to write a book from the perpetrators' point of view. She said no and then did it. She puts a lot of herself into the minds of the perps, but in doing so she helped me come to grips with the world I had been working in for over a decade.
Durham, Edith	High Albania	This classic 1914 pro-Albanian travelogue of Albania. The counterpoint to Rebecca West. It is out again in paperback.
Garton-Ash, Timothy	The Magic Lantern, The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague	Essays on the fall of communism in Central Europe, written while there was so much optimism. Sometimes I re-read them and ponder what went wrong. Very well written, the man understands language. While not about the Balkans, it helped me understand.
Garton-Ash, Timothy	The File	Garton-Ash was a student and then scholar in East Germany. When the Stazi files were opened he got his and confronted each of the people who had informed on him. Fascinating view of how people survive a dictatorship. One of my favorite writers on this list.
Garton-Ash, Timothy	A History of the Present.	A set of essays on the fall of communism. Offers insight on why Europe seems incapable of dealing with the Balkans and must rely on the US.
Glenny, Misha	The Balkans, 1904-1999, Nationalism, War and the Great Powers	Misha is the BBC expert on the Balkans. This is a good historical account of "why nationalism?"
Glenny, Misha	The Fall of Yugoslavia	Good but Silber and Little are better. Written in 1992, before it stopped falling.
Gloyer, Gillian	Albania, The Bradt Travel Guide	Ms. Gloyer lived in Albania the same time we did. She writes a good guide although she doesn't have my favorite Tirana haunts. This book is worth buying just because Ms. Gloyer has a justification for all those bunkers, and explains the defensive strategy behind them.
Goff, Peter, Editor	The Kosovo News & Propaganda War	This is a book of essays about press coverage of the Kosovo War in different countries published by the International Press Institute in Vienna. Some of the essays interesting, others no so. The Editorial Cartoons from around the world are instructive.
Goodwin, Jason	Lords of the Horizons, a History of the Ottoman Empire	A very readable book. Since the empire had so much influence on the Balkans, this book gives a good understanding of the empire, from a different perspective.
Halberstam, David	War in a Time of Peace, Bush, Clinton and the Generals	Halberstam says this book is more about American Policy than about the Balkans, This is good because his writing about the Balkans is full of inaccuracies. It did give me a good idea of what American policy makers were thinking and what information they were working from. For this reason it was worth reading, but I was disappointed.
Hall, Brian	The Impossible Country	A good travelogue of Yugoslavia in 1991on the eve of the fall. This is good travel writing.
Havel, Vaclav	Living in Truth	Essays on how communism effected morals in Communist Europe. Not about the Balkans but the philosopher king helps us understand.
Hedges, Chris	War is a force that Gives Us Meaning	A veteran war correspondent tries to understand why war is addictive both to soldiers and correspondents. He discusses the influence of war on the souls of nations and combatants as well as those caught in the crossfire. This book added so much to my understanding of events I have been involved with that I gave it to both my sons for Christmas.
Holbrooke, Richard	To end a war	I have not read this but it is often cited as a primary source.
Hupchick, Dennis and Cox, Harold	A Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe.	This inexpensive atlas charts, in 50 maps, who came when, who ruled whom and the migrating boundaries of empires that are used as justification to the claim "this land is ours." An excellent companion to many of the histories on this list.
Hupchick, Dennis and Cox, Harold	The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of The Balkans	This Atlas also has 50 maps gives more detail on the Balkans. Iif you are interested in only the Balkans this Atlas is a little more satisfying.
Ignatieff, Michael	The Warrior's Honor, Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience	Toward developing a "Code of Ethics" for Ethnic war. He used the Red Cross as an example. Philosophical justification for intervention.
Judah, Tim	Kosovo, War and Revenge	The best and most current review of the situation.
Judah, Tim	The Serbs, History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia	Good history of Serbia, a lot of insight.
Kadare, Ismail	Broken April	Kadare is the greatest Albanian Novelist. There is annual speculation over whether he will win a Nobel Prize. His best known novel, it is about blood feuds in Northern Albania.
Kadare, Ismail	Chronicle in Stone	This book is written about the Second World War from the perspective of a small boy.
Kadare, Ismail	Three Elegies for Kosovo	A wonderful short novel about bards music and history.
Kaplan, Robert	Balkan Ghosts	The book that influenced Clinton Policy. Flawed but compelling, he predicted the break-up and wars in 1989.
Kumar, Krishna	Promoting Independent Media, Strategies for Democracy Assistance	While the scope of this book goes beyond the Balkans it has chapters on Bosnia and Serbia. The Serbia chapter draws heavily on our experience. I have been doing media development work for more than a dozen years and I learned a great deal from this book.
Lawrence, Sterling	Montenegro: A Novel	This is a good airplane book. A Romantic Novel set in an exotic place, Montenegro in 1908. Nice description of the land. I enjoyed it, but some of my Montenegrin friends may think it is too "Serbian" in its outlook.
Malcolm, Noel	Kosovo, A Short History	Not at all short, and very controversial. I thought it was good. Many Serbian friends don't.
Malcolm, Noel	Bosnia, A Short History	Not as long as Kosovo, A good reference.
Mazower, Mark	The Balkans, A short History	This is excellent and really is short (156 pages). If you can only read one book on the Balkans this would be a good choice.
Mazower, Mark	Salonica, City of Ghosts	If you want to understand the roots of the idea of "ethnic cleansing" and the invention of nationalism in the Balkans, this is an excellent book, as well as being an engaging history.
Merrill, Christopher	Only the Nails Remain, Scenes from the Balkan Wars.	Chris is a poet and takes a poet's view of the Balkan wars. Set mostly in Bosnia it tells his very personal reactions of ten trips to the region.
Mitchell, Laurence	Serbia, The Bradt Travel Guide	This book has some of the places I like to eat, so it must be ok. I like the side bars, especially the short history of Radio B-92 on page 73.
Owen, David	Balkan Odyssey	I have not read this but it is often cited as a primary source.
Pelton, Robert Young	The World's Most Dangerous Places, 4th Edition.	A funky, macho guide to survival in dangerous places. The chapters on Kosovo and Bosnia are opinionated but I largely share the opinions. Overstated for impact.
Pettifer, James	Albania and Kosovo, Blue Guide	One of the few guides for travel in Albania and Kosovo. The first edition of this guide had a lot of inaccuracies. Pettifer has corrected many of these. The newest edition includes Kosovo, and I have found the guide most useful.
Pettifer, James	The New Macedonian Question	Pettifer has traveled and worked in the region and knows his material.
Rellie, Annalisa	Montenegro, The Bradt Travel Guide.	One of the few full travel guides for Montenegro in English that is easily available. I traveled in and out of Montenegro for 7 years and lived there for 18 months and she took me to places I didn't know about.
Schwander-Sievers, Stephanie and Bernd J. Fischer, Editors.	Albanian Identities, Myth and History	This thoughtful book of essays is about how history was interpreted and manipulated to justify an Albanian state. While it is about Albania, it applies to all the nations of the Balkans. It helped focus my thought on the study and effects of history.
Silber, Laura and Little, Alan	The Death of Yugoslavia	Silber is from the Financial Times, Little from the BBC. This is the best account of the fall. Get the post Dayton version, BBC Books.
Smiley, David	Irregular Regular	A part of the Albania's "Lost History" written by a British agent who parachuted into Albania during World War II. After years of Communist Propaganda about the Partisan Movement this book got a lot of attention in Albania when it came out in 1994.
Sullivan, Stacy	Be Not Afraid, For You Have Sons in America, How a Brooklyn Roofer Helped Lure the US into the Kosovo War.	I first met Stacy in Albania in 1993 when she was a graduate student working with the student newspaper at Tirana Newspaper and I was an aid worker teaching journalism.. She stayed in the Balkans as a fine reporter. This book demonstrates that. Stacy's descriptions ring absolutely true. She captures the story..
Todorova, Maria	Imagining the Balkans	Asks the question "What are the Balkans?" A philosophical work rather than an historical one.
Vickers, Miranda	Between Serb and Albanian, A History of Kosovo	The best of the pre-bombing books on Kosovo. 1998. I know Miranda personally and respect her work.
Vickers, Miranda	The Albanians, a Modern History	Pre- pyramid scheme collapse
Vickers, Miranda and Pettifer, James	Albania, from Anarchy to a Balkan Identity	Released right after the pyramid schemes collapsed. A good account of how the pyramid schemes developed.
West, Rebecca	Black Lamb and Gray Falcon, The record of a journey through Yugoslavia in 1937	A classic of travel literature. Pro-Serb, it influenced British policy for two generations. The counterpoint to Durham.
Wilkes, John	The Illyrians	With so much academic energy expended by Serbs to prove that Albanian are not descendents of Illyrians and by Albanians to prove they are, this view from a professor of Greek and Roman Archaeology provides a different perspective.
Winchrster, Simon	The Fracture Zone, My Return to the Balkans	Winchester's travel was at the same time as my work in the Balkans. We saw many of the same things. His excellent writing challenged my conclusions, which is a nice way of saying that I disagreed with much of what he wrote. But we each have our own journeys and process the same things differently. I enjoyed testing my processing against his.
Zimmerman, Warren	Origins of a Catastrophe	The US ambassador to Yugoslavia in the early '90's tells his story of the collapse of the country. I have not read this but it is often cited as a primary source. Written before Kosovo.