This short review is from "Books on Bosnia" published by The Bosnian Institute. Combines travelogue, cultural history and political analysis to give an atmospheric and nuanced account of Yugoslavia at the point of its collapse

author stole milton's title, so can I. Doran William Cannon author, Paradise Regained, 1999

This is one of the best books i've read in ages. The peoples' stories that fill these pages show just how amazing the people of Sarajevo are to be able to stay in their wartorn city. The thing that comes across strongest in this book is the undeniable spirit of Sarajevo and the refusal of these people to give in and let war ruin their lives.

The book is basically a collection of simple stories from different people who chose to stay in sarajevo during the war. All the stories are very emotional, however i came away with a good feeling rather than feeling sad. The people featured (which seems to be anyone, young children, cafe owners, musicians etc) in the book describe their experiences more as a triumph of spirit, rather than portraying themselves as helpless victims.

This is a truly inspirational book about inspirational people.

A rich and dense book that examines the very core of what it means to be human. Handke's intricately constructed narrative works on several levels giving the reader much to digest. It's threefold structure is at first difficult to interpret, but on repeated readings one begins to understand the significance of smaller fragmented incidents scattered throughout the text. If possible one should read the original and use the dictionary as a companion, just as the protagonist Filip Kobal does. One of the best books by one of our best contemporary authors. Highly recommended.

Es una pieza importante en el estudio de la lengua de mi pueblo,un examen serio de unos de los dialectos del romany mas hablados en el mundo,necesario para aquellos que desean investigar con seriedad el idioma de un pueblo originario de la india los gitanos

This book is the best English-language treatment to date of Milosevic's rule in Serbia as can be found in a single volume.

It is not just a biography, though that, too, can be found in the sections discussing Milosevic's rise to power (frequently drawing on the pathbreaking work of Serb journalist Slavoljub Djukic). Cohen's work is much more a well-researched account of the main political events, players, and contexts in Serbia/Yugoslavia where Milosevic is the central, but far from exclusive, focus.

Cohen treats primarily domestic politics, but also spends a fair amount of time on the foreign context, particularly in relation to Dayton and also the Kosovo conflict. He is particularly good on summarizing the levers of power and patrimonial methods used by Milosevic, and especially Serbian political culture--something of a favorite topic with Cohen--that helped to underpin Milosevic's rule. Cohen's cultural emphasis leads him to argue that some authoritarian social attitudes are likely to trouble, though not necessarily determine, Serbian politics after Milosevic's departure.

As much as I like the political-party level details available in Robert Thomas's _Politics of Serbia in the 1990s_ (especially on party origins), and the interesting political-cultural account in Eric Gordy's _The Culture of Power in Serbia_, Cohen does a better, more thorough job fleshing out the factional character of the Milosevic regime and its opposition, with more attention paid to basic features of political economy and analysis of social support for political players. It might be possible to improve on this book by touching up details and tightening particular arguments, but for an avowed case study speaking to larger questions, Cohen has raised the empirical and analytical bar impressively high.

Cohen's treatment of the Kosovo conflict is quite good in its details, but journalist Tim Judah's book on Kosovo is better on the genealogy and players of Albanian military and political groups and the negotiations at Rambouillet and during the war. For laypeople, Cohen also gives an excellent thumbnail sketch of debates over the character of nationalism, and concrete policy outcomes in the Balkans as a result of the debate. He does not, however, really clarify to what extent nationalism on any side should be tolerated and respected, preferring instead to warn the West in general terms to be "open-minded" and "pragmatic" of the complexities behind myths and national aspirations. It's a plea for comprehension first, but short on policy specifics, which, in retrospect, is perhaps not such a bad thing.

The only other flaw I have to mention is the repeated and distracting spelling errors [e.g., "loosing" for losing] and somewhat less frequent syntactical / grammatical mistakes peppered throughout. Considering how hard it is for all of us to edit our own copy after months of staring at monitors, the fault lies with copy editors who are paid not to rely solely on their spell-checkers and who might have tinkered in mistaken directions with the original copy.

This book is fairly smoothly written, although perhaps somewhat dense for non-academics. As of this writing, you'll be hard pressed to find a better account of Milosevic's Serbia, and I count it as a good reference and analytic help in my own research on Serbia compared to her neighbors. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, but I'm happy to round it up to 5 because it'll be awhile before anyone tops Cohen's accomplishment.

This is the sixth book I've read about Yugoslavia since we bombed Belgrade this spring. It should have been the first. Like most Americans, I had virtually no knowledge about this important part of the world. What I read in the media only confused me. This author gives a concise overview of Yugoslav history up through the 80's, and he presents his information in an interesting & lucid way. (It is interesting to read his views on Kosovo, in light of recent events which took place ten years after this book was published.) If I had read this book first, the information in the other books I've read would have been much more useful to me.

Bokovoy et al present here the most important contribution to the study of post-war Yugoslavia yet published. This volume includes important studies of archival materials unavailable to earlier researchers, precisely translated from Slovene, Serbian and Russian and analysed with intelligence, clarity and verve. (Willis Johnson, Univ. of California, Berkeley

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the politics and history of the former Yugoslavia. Unfortunately most readers know little of the region's history before 1940. Biondich's book helps readers understand why the inqualities of the past resulted in the death and destruction of the 1990s. Tragically the Croatian leader Radic and his politics of passivism resulted in his brutal assassination in the Serbian parliament. In his book "Celebrities of our Time" the writer Bernstein even chose to include Radic among the many brilliant thinkers and writers of the Twenties such as Tolstoy. Once again an excellent read that should be mandatory for students, historians and particularly, the media.

This collection of articles results from the first-hand experience of scholars who are specialists in studying the countries they are writing about. The articles focus on contemporary Eastern Europe, are readable, understandable for the non-academic, and interesting.