Yugoslavia and Its Historians: Understanding the Balkan Wars of the 1990s by Norman M. s> Naimark Holly Case Reflections on the Balkan Wars: Ten Years after The Break-Up of Yugoslavia by J. S. Morton R. C. Nation P. C. Forage S. Bianchini (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 78I the all-pervasive conspiracy directed against Russia is called 'Jewish', 'Yid' [Zhidovskii], 'Zionist',or 'Khazarian'.To the outside observer,it appearsto be old wine in old bottles. Nonetheless, in the era of conspiracytheories,Eastand West, Shnirelman's text providesa usefuland eruditeguide to the uses to which the Khazar myth have been put. Department ofHebrew andJewishStudies JOHN D. KLIER University College London Naimark, Norman M. and Case, Holly (eds). rugoslaviaand Its Historians: Understanding theBalkan Warsof the 9ggos. Stanford University Press, Stanford,CA, 2003. xix + 275 pp. Map. Notes. Index. C46.95. Morton, J. S., Nation, R. C., Forage,P. C. and Bianchini, S. (eds).Reflections on theBalkan Wars. TenrearsAfterTheBreak-Upof rugoslavia. Palgrave Macmillan,New Yorkand Basingstoke,2004. xv + 26o pp. Notes. Index. ?4?.?? YUGOSLAV historianshave been unwilling to debate the catastrophethat has overtakenYugoslaviasince the late I98os. This collection edited by Naimark and Case is a welcome exception in which leading practitioners explore 'images of the past' as well as key factors in the unsuccessful struggle of Yugoslaviato exist and renew itselfunderdifferentsocial systems. In the I98os most had no inklingthatYugoslaviawas going to fallapartjust as in West Germany virtuallyno historiansassumedthat unificationwith the East might be just around the corner. For an explanation, the influence of modernizationtheoriesin the socialscienceswhichpredictedthataccelerating development would create common identities is cited by Dusan Djordjevich in a well-handled opening essay that surveys the emphasis of historical researchover an extended period. The recent Yugoslav conflagration might be viewed as a disguised urban versus rural struggle in which rural and provincial South Slavs, and indeed Albanians,imposed theiratavisticand uncivilways on the cities. Butthe study of ruralpatterns of life has been neglected as indeed has urban civil society. But some amends are made here in the shape of three substantialchapters early in the book, an exploration of the ambiguous role of the Hajduk, or Bandit, in Balkan politics and culture, by Wendy Bracewell, the fading of transhumance as witnessed and indeed experienced by Wayne S. Vucinich, and the significance of Old Ragusa's tradition of civic peace and public spiritednessfor the modern Balkans,by BarisaKrekic . Interest in self-management has been replaced by an absorption with nations and nationalism which fits in with the general preoccupation 'with cultural explanations of virtually every phenomenon' (Djordjevich). He reckonsthatboth Serbiaand Croatiahave receivedverylittlerecent attention from historiansbecause of the centralityof the Bosnian conflict. The quality of a lot of the published scholarship on both countries is disappointing and Djordjevichdecriesthe influence ofjournalistic interpretations. 782 SEER, 83, 4, 2005 Macedonia has 'been the subject of some of the richest scholarship to emerge from the ruins of Yugoslavia'. This is appropriate as its history provoked large and deep controversies extending over a century. Andrew Rossos delineates the contours of the Macedonian question and describesthe rise of a Macedonian consciousness. He warns that the peace of South-East Europe lies injeopardy unless Macedonia's neighbours accept its identity as both a nation and a state (a contribution that appears to have been written before the 2001 internal conflict which has led to the state's official identity being throwninto the melting-pot). In a richly-detailedchapter CharlesJelavich dwells on education, another neglected branch of Balkanhistory, in order to try to better comprehend the weak momentum behind South Slav unity. He takes as his starting-pointa 1948 encounter with the Serbian historian Slobodan Jovanovic who argued thatpeace andprosperitywouldflowfroman educationsystemthatinculcated a respect for the historical background and traditions of all of Yugoslavia's inhabitants.Jelavich shows how teachers in inter-war Yugoslavialooked at education from their differing regional perspectives with education being a cinderella ministry in which a long-term view was absent. Then in a magisterialchapter,Alfred Suppan examines the differenthistoricalstagesin which Yugoslavismvied with national projects. Thomas Emmert is gloomy about Serbia'sfuture given the prevalence of politicians ready to narrowthe gulfbetween stateand society throughthe manipulationof nationalismjust as in earlierphases of history. To make his point he chartshow the intellectual powerbrokerDobrica Cosic abandoned Yugoslavismto provide much of the context and imageryof the Serbiannationalistrevivalof the I98os. Despite enforced population movements and segregationistschools, John Fine believes a Third Yugoslaviais possible. He laments the disappearanceof 'a beautiful society' that flourished 'under Tito's tolerant guidance'. He defends the reputation of the army in...