History of The Balkans
928069
Mark Mazower provides a concise but accurate description of Balkans.  He provides details when important.  The book provides a good analysis of the various countries that constitute the Balkans and a good discussion of the ongoing quarrels and wars.
3526122
This book is extensive in its history of Central Europe. An ideal book for anyone wanting to know all.
1256807
Extremely informative book; I discovered numerous things I never knew about the history of Europe, doctors and medicine, politics, religious diversity and tolerance in Transylvania, and the invasion of the area by the Ottoman empire.
331741
This is a detailed look at WWI.  It explains how a number of European countries got dragged into what was at first,  a local war.  The Austro-Hungarian empire declared war on Serbia. Austria-Hungary and Serbia were allied with other countries in Europe.  So soon France,  Germany, and Russia were mobilizing for war.  Since it often took several weeks for a complete mobilization of all military forces,  a mobilization for war was equivalent to a declaration of war.  Later other countries such as Romania would declare war.  It also explains why the western front(between Germany and France) degenerated into trench warfare and the eastern front did not.  The book also talks of the new weapons of warfare(like the airplane).  It also goes into the different fronts of the war.  Like the front in eastern Turkey.
4390284
As an American soldier facing the strong posibility of travel to the Balkans in the near future, I truly enjoyed Mrs. West's book despite the several months it took me to read it.  The book provides a detailed account  of life in the Balkans during the 30's which continues to have relevance in  today's world.  I recommend reading the book with a high-quality world  atlas and following her journeys on the map.  This book is not for the  casual reader.  In fact, I would have given it five stars except that it is  somewhat confusing at times due to the author's tendency to shift between  the past and present.  For those who only recently became interested in  Balkan hisotry, the book provides a good starting point for the study of a  complex culture.
4433528
I like this book because I like the history of Turkey, from prehistory on, because, in my opinion, no other geographical region  -- India, Egypt, and China included -- has aggregated a comparably diverse and rich history (and prehistory).  The six centuries and more of Ottoman history, itself embracing the great geographical span of the empire beyond Anatolia and present-day Turkey in Europe, obviously is essential to any attempt at comprehension of such a vast sweep of time, centered during the reign of the Ottomans in Constaninople-cum-Istanbul.  I am not qualified to criticize this book from a scholarly vantage, but it is apparent that there is a great deal of chronic disputation in Ottoman historiography, much of it prejudiced by Orientalism, anti-Orientalism, reactionary chauvinism.  In other examples, Ottoman history is a mere exercise in euphuism, or an exhibition of inadequate research.  Part of the problem with Ottoman historiography (or so I have read) is that Ottoman archival materials have long been sequestered and not available to scholars, particularly Western scholars.  To sum up about "Ottoman Centuries", I will echo  another reviewer in saying that this, in the apparent absence of much else, is a beginning for the educated general reader, at least sufficient to dispel gross ignorance, errors of omission and commission -- whatever those may be -- notwithstanding.
1397498
A very interesting book. Worth reading ,not only for the description of the European stage at the time but also to attempt an understanding of the disintegration of Yugoslavia..Well written. Easy to read considering the many names and referenc
271053
Rossos takes a distinctly minority perspective on Macedonia's borders, essentially arguing that Macedonia rightfully should contain all the Ottoman territory in the Balkans at the time of the 1913 partition, in which substantial lands went to Bulgaria in the east and to Greece in the south. In fact, the book cover says Rossos "was born in Greek (Aegean) Macedonia." In fact, this greater Macedonia never existed as a country and it didn't have the characteristics of a nation -- ethnic cohesion, common language, established borders -- and few Macedonians I have talked with accept this perspective. With that caveat in mind, however, the reader can gain a good sense of Balkan history from this volume.
2622006
Thank you for taking the time to write this. I was looking for a quick introduction to the Ottoman empire to expand upon later and this worked quite well. The good: Easy writing style. A broad view then consolidation of the multitude of tribes that were the Turks. The bad: So many different geographical names... would it hurt to toss in a map or three? The ugly: Not any ugly. Some jumping back and forth of the time line, which can get confusing, but often a necessary and unavoidable evil in any history book. Conclusion: Go ahead and read it.
4027723
Peter H. Wilsons historiography The Thirty-Years-War  Europes tragedy was first published in 2009 by the Penguin Group. The author describes the processes in central Europe during the thirty-years-war from a different perspective than most people in our time, what leads to different conclusions about the purpose, reason and general characteristics of the war.
The thirty-years-war was extremely complex, it was not primarily a religious war and it was not inevitable. These are the three main points the author makes in this book besides giving the reader a very detailed description of the war and providing him with a great reference work. Wilson begins his book outlining the events that lead to the beginning of the war and the situation in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation before the war. I the middle part of the book Peter H. Wilson describes the war step by step focusing in every chapter on a different region of Europe or another aspect of the conflict. In the end the author shows the results of the war and the effects the war had on Europe.  During his hole description Wilson shows examples and proofs for his main points.
Organization is very important for a book that is as detailed and long as The Thirty-Years-War by Peter H. Wilson to make sure the reader doesnt get lost between all the information. Wilson did a very good job on organizing his book. There are three main parts the book is divided into: beginning, conflict and aftermath. The beginning is divided into 8 chapters, the conflict into 12 and the aftermath into 3. Every chapter is divided into smaller parts and these smaller parts are divided another time into parts which all have their own title. There is a big table of contents which lists the main parts, the chapters and the smaller parts with their name and page number. What I also found very helpful is that every chapter describes only one region of Europe or one aspect of the war.
The version I read was the First Harvard University Press paperback edition from 2011. This version includes some background material in addition to the text. In front of the text there are a list of illustrations, a list of maps and battle plans, a list of tables, a note of form, the Habsburg family tree 1500-1665, a map of central Europe 1618, a note of currencies and a preface. The appendix includes a list of abbreviations, notes for every chapter and an index.
Although the book might be a great book for a more advanced reader who already has some knowledge about the war, I found it too hard for me. I think with more time and maybe some research about the war before starting the reading I would have gotten much more out of the book, but in my situation it was very hard to get the information relevant to understand the processes out of all the details. What also made it hard for me to understand the book is the fact that English is not my first language so there are words I don't know, especially technical terminology. If at some point in the future I should have an interest in learning more about the thirty-years-war and the enough time to read a detailed book and try to understand it, I will probably choose Wilsons book.
Finally I would recommend this book to everybody who has a real interest in the thirty-years-war and is willing to spend a lot of time reading this book and thinking about it. Still I want to warn you that this book is very complex and that the details can be a good thing, but also make the reading harder.
4276213
The best  book about the history of Croatia I ever read, without hype and excuses, "just the facts". An incredible amount of information is a fairly short book - after all, we are talking almost 1700 years of history on 300 pages! It is an easy read, but had to read it twice just to get all the facts. If you want to read just ONE book to understand the country and the conflict it went through, I highly recommend this one.
4120157
Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon:  A journey through Yugoslavia calls to mind traveler epics of candid observation through past centuries in Europe, Russia, and the Americas.  Many pages are devoted to death by  details, but the total canvas is a rich, detailed one of a region buffeted  by the crosswinds of history.  It provides an excellent foil to works such  as Huntington's Clash of Civilizations and Fukuyama's End of  History.
Traveling by car, train and foot through many a spot that would  not show up even in a Michelin guide, Mrs West paints a detailed picture of  the (now former) Yugoslavia.  The Austrians, Hungarians, Turks and Italians  do not come off well under her historical microscope.  With perhaps a bit  of traditional British dislike for Napoleon, Mrs West reserves some of her  harshest criticisms for Marshal Marmont and his cynical rule in  Dalmatia.
Written as a traveling journal in the late 1930's, the book is  free of much of the angst ridden writing of today on this region.  West has  no clear political agenda to advance in this book;  rather, she lays out a  series of experiences, analyzes them, and provides them to the reader for  consideration.  With the advantage of hindsight, many of her ethnological  observations are uncanny, especially the role that the Serbs and Croats  would play in the 1940's and again in the 1990's.
Her understanding,  and further exploration, of the depth of religious current swirling in the  valleys and plains of the Balkans is impressive.  Although she appears  somewhat cynical about the true depth of feeling in many instances, she  nonetheless accords the importance of religion, and what I would call the  "cult of martyrology" its due respect in this turbulent  historical region.
For someone looking for a quick, executive summary  type read on the Balkans, this is not it.  For someone who knows how to  speed read, and extract nuggets of wisdom and keen observation, this book  is a must read for the Balkans.
2634962
This book provides the history of how religious hatred coupled with and used by ruthless power seeking men triggered repeated genocides in and among Balkan countries.
1923782
I have a great interest in Greek, Roman and Byzantine history, as well an interest in the history of cities. I have read many histories on Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul. This book carefully describes the changes to this city and its people over the centuries in a way that you can visualize the real life of the great city of Istanbul (  !, eis tin poli to the greeks). Each chapter capture the major changes to the city life and its environs. Great read!
4735802
I was living in Bosnia.  It helped me understand the history of the country so much better.
1004576
I am an inveterate map reader. Whenever I travel there is a map in my pocket. But a recent trip to the Middle East and growing hobby collecting ancient coins had left me lost and confused as I tried to put in context  the ruins visited and the coins I collected. With time, the names of cities  and regions change so that one needs a separate map for each period.  Morkot's superbly written historical atlas not only provides maps, but the  rationale and context for their evolution and change. One of the best  features in the structure of this book is the use of the overview, followed  by a series of in-depth accounts, each from the perspective of the  important "players" during a given historical period.  This  approach is immensely effective in reinforcing the information since the  same information is repeated and new information added as each of the  regions, their politics and battles, are succesively presented.  From the  Mycenae to the Parthians are thousands of years, thousands of miles, and  thousands of political entities whose ebb and flow of power and reach of  influence affect us even today. For the first time after years of puzzling  over strange Grecian place names and leaders, I am now able to begin to  understand the who what when and where for the 5 millenia preceding the  birth of Christ.  I wish this had been the first book I read in my study of  ancient history.  I can hardly wait to start on Penguin's sequel - Acient  Rome.
4553887
The writer talks about the Gypsy people, their music and culture with great affection and provides interesting historical background about the Gypsy diaspora. I've never been to the Balkans but the word pictures he paints in this book took me there in my imagination.