The Serbs: History, Myth, and the Destruction of YugoslaviaWho are the Serbs? Branded by some as Europe's new Nazis, they are seen by others—and by themselves—as the innocent victims of nationalist aggression and of an implacably hostile world media. In this challenging new book, Timothy Judah, who covered the war years in former Yugoslavia for the London Times and the Economist, argues that neither is true. Exploring the Serbian nation from the great epics of its past to the battlefields of Bosnia and the backstreets of Kosovo, he sets the fate of the Serbs within the story of their past. This wide-ranging, scholarly, and highly readable account opens with the windswept fortresses of medieval kings and a battle lost more than six centuries ago that still profoundly influences the Serbs. Judah describes the idea of "Serbdom" that sustained them during centuries of Ottoman rule, the days of glory during the First World War, and the genocide against them during the Second. He examines the tenuous ethnic balance fashioned by Tito and its unraveling after his death. And he reveals how Slobodan Milosevic, later to become president, used a version of history to drive his people to nationalist euphoria. Judah details the way Milosevic prepared for war and provides gripping eyewitness accounts of wartime horrors: the burning villages and "ethnic cleansing," the ignominy of the siege of Sarajevo, and the columns of bedraggled Serb refugees, cynically manipulated and then abandoned once the dream of a Greater Serbia was lost. This first in-depth account of life behind Serbian lines is not an apologia but a scrupulous explanation of how the people of a modernizing European state could become among the most reviled of the century. Rejecting the stereotypical image of a bloodthirsty nation, Judah makes the Serbs comprehensible by placing them within the context of their history and their hopes. |
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THE SERBS: History, Myth, and the Destruction of Yugoslavia
User Review - KirkusStressing the Serbs' misuse and mythologizing of history, Judah offers an insightful, informed, and trenchant consideration of their history and their collective outlook. The Serbs is a stylish and ... Read full review
The Serbs: history, myth and the destruction of Yugoslavia
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictJudah, a correspondent for the LondonTimes and the Economist, satisfies a critical need in the burgeoning literature of the former Yugoslavia by focusing on a single nation. Yugoslavia's destruction ... Read full review
Contents
AN EMPIRE ON EARTH | 17 |
IT Is BETTER TO DIE IN BATTLE THAN TO LIVE IN SHAME | 29 |
RESURRECTION AND BEYOND | 48 |
CUTTING THE TURKS INTO PIECES | 73 |
WE ARE THE STRONGEST | 191 |
Which Side Will You Be On? On the Highway to Hell | 204 |
THE MADMEN TAKE OVER THE ASYLUM | 225 |
THE WAR FOR MORE | 242 |
Days in Hell The Idea Is on the Table House Hunters | 295 |
END OF EMPIRE | 312 |
| 362 | |
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Common terms and phrases
areas arms attack Balkan Banja Luka battle Battle of Kosovo became began Belgrade believed border Bosnia Bosnian Muslim Bosnian Serb Brankovic Bulgarians cent century Chetniks church collapse communist Croatia Dalmatia death Despite eastern Slavonia empire epic federal fighting fled forces former Garasanin Germans Greater Serbia Habsburg Hercegovina Hungarians Ibid Italian Karadjordje Karadzic killed Knin Kosovo Albanians Krajina Krajina Serbs land later Lazar lived London Macedonia Macek massacres migrations Mihailovic military Milosevic Milosevic's murdered nationalist Nemanjas organisation Orthodox Ottoman Partisans party police political politicians population president Prijedor refugees region remained republic Republika Srpska Sandzak Sarajevo Sava Serb-held Serbia and Montenegro Serbian Army Serbian leaders Serbs and Croats Slavonia Slavs Slobodan Slovenes Slovenia soldiers south Slav Srebrenica Stefan territory thousands Tito took town troops Tudjman Turkish Turks uprising Ustashas village Vlachs Vojvodina Vuk Brankovic wanted western Yugoslav Yugoslavia
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Serbs: History, Myth, and the Destruction of Yugoslavia Yale Nota Bene book Yale Nota bene |
| Author | Tim Judah |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Yale University Press, 2000 |
| ISBN | 0300085079, 9780300085075 |
| Length | 382 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Europe / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |