756 SEER, 88, 4, OCTOBER 2OIO Donia, Robert J. Sarajevo: A Biography. Hurst& Company,London,2006.xxii + 435pp-Maps. Illustrations. Notes.Bibliography. Index.£25.00. RobertJ.Donia haswritten an excellent and informative survey ofSarajevo through theages. Sarajevo: A Biography willserveas a lucidintroduction for students and non-specialists to the history of the cityas well as to thatof Bosniaitself. Regionalspecialists willalso benefit from Donia's newresearch and insights intotheBosniancapital'spoliticaland cultural life.Donia's key argument, oft-repeated throughout thework,is thathistorically Sarajevohas thrived on a tradition ofcivic-minded pluralism and diversity. On theother hand,'sectarian rule,extendedcontention, and non-inclusive conceptions of urbanlife'have had a corrosive impacton the city'sculturaland political prosperity, mostdemonstrably duringthectwogreatparoxysms ofviolence' inthetwentieth century: theoccupation during theSecondWorldWar(194145 ), and the siegeduringthe BosnianWar (1992-95)(pp. 5-6). Presenting Sarajevo's history in thisway,the workprovidesa corrective both to the absurdbut influential clichéthatthe BosnianWar was fuelledby 'ancient hatreds', and to Samuel Huntingdon's now infamous notionofan ongoing global'clashofcivilizations'. Donia's emphasis ison themodern period,and especially thehistory ofthe city after 1878,following theoccupation ofBosniabyAustria-Hungary. Itwas at thistimethattheprocessofmodernization acceleratedin thecity, as the energetic Austro-Hungarian diplomat Benjaminvon Kállayworkedto 'mold Bosniaand Sarajevointohisvisionofenlightened Europeanstateand society' (p. 62). Kállay'sultimately unsuccessful attempt to createa synthetic, multiconfessional Bosniannationalism knownas bosnjastvo as a counterweight to centrifugal forcesemanatingfromCroatia and Serbia also highlights an important and recurrent themein Bosnianhistory. On repeatedoccasions duringthetwentieth century, thecommonlifeofSarajevowas subjectedto extremepressures fromoutsideforces.Nowhereis thispointmade more forcefully thanin thebook'stwooutstanding sections, thosedealingwiththe SecondWorldWarandtheBosnianWarof1992-95.Forhistorians offascism inSouth-Eastern Europeand ofthePartisans inYugoslavia,Sarajevopresents a fascinating case-study. According toDonia, thecity's commonlife, itstraditionofdiversity , helpsto explainboththefailure ofmovements suchas the CroatianUstashe(andforthatmatter, theSerbianChetniks) and thesuccess oftheYugoslavPartisans (p. 202).Most Sarajevansultimately embracedthe inclusive programme of'Brotherhood and Unity'offered bythePartisans at theexpenseofthesectarianism ofthefascists and nationalists. The pointhas been made elsewhere (byMarkoAttilaHoare, forexample)and theworkof EmilyGrebleBalie showshow official, genocidalpolicyin theIndependent StateofCroatiawas mediated, obstructed and often by-passed at grassroots levelin Sarajevo. However,the book's best sectiondeals withthewar of 1992-95and its aftermath. Donia servedas an expertwitness at theInternational Criminal Tribunalfortheformer Yugoslavia(ICTY) and has used thisexperience to good effect in thissection.He givesa mostthorough and critical accountof reviews 757 thisconflict and ofthedeeplyproblematic roleplayedbytheUnitedNations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Whilstdetailsofthepoliticaland military developments oftheconflict are provided,Donia once again interprets the essenceof thisperiodof Sarajevo's history as a battlebetweenthosewho fought to protect thecity'scommonlifeand those,liketheformer Bosnian Serbleaderand ICTY indictee Radovan Karadzic,whowantedtodestroy it. Whilst Sarajevo'stradition ofdiversity survived theshockoftheSecondWorld War, it seemsuncertain thatitwillsurvive thewar of 1992-95.'The city's commonlifehangsin thebalance' notesDonia (p. 352),and scholarsand analysts ofpost-war Bosniaare indeeduncertain thatthestatewillsurvive in itspresent form, or ifitspolitical boundaries willneedtobe re-drawn. Donia's knowledge of the history, politicsand cultureof Bosnia and of Sarajevothroughout theagesis evident throughout thisbook,he is equallyat ease describing thepositionofnon-Muslim SarajevansunderOttomanrule as he isdescribing theatmosphere inthecity whilst ithostedthe1984Winter Olympiad. Perhapsthere isa tendency inthebooktowards eulogization whilst describing thepassing ofmulticulturalism inSarajevo.Donia occasionally slips intothetragic mode,callingthesiegeofSarajevo(1992-96)an 'epic struggle to preserve a cherished way oflife'(p. 287),and thenagain latercanepic struggle ofwills'(p. 317).One suspects he is occasionally caughtup inthepity ofthething; butthenso manypeoplehavelookedatBosnia'shistory through the prismof war and seen nothingbut interminable hostility. Sarajevo: A Biography is a persuasive riposteto thisapproach,it provesempirically that therehas been and can be a commonlifein thecity. SchoolofHistory andArchives University College Dublin JohnPaul Newman Sahadeo, Jeff.Russian ColonialSociety in Tashkent, 1865ig2j . Indiana University Press, Bloomington andIndianapolis, 2007.xi+ 316pp.Maps. Illustrations. Notes.Bibliography. Index.$45.00. JeffSahadeo has made an immensely valuablecontribution tobothcolonial and urbanhistory withhisnewstudy ofRussiansettlers in Tashkentwhich, unusually, bridges the1917dividetocarry thestory from theRussianconquest in 1865through theRevolution and theearliest yearsofSovietRule to 1923. Sahadeo has done extensive research in archives and libraries in Uzbekistan, but perhapsthe moststriking aspect of his book is the use he makes of the historiography of the Britishand FrenchEmpires,and in particular the richliterature of postcolonialstudies.To some extentthen thisis a comparative study, situating RussianTashkentfirmly in thewidercontext of nineteenth-century Europeanimperialism. Sahadeo describesa city with multiplepersonalities, some of which pre-dated itscapture byGeneralCherniaevin 1865(pp. 12-21).Tashkent was atonetimea majorstaging-post on theEastWesttrading routeloosely known ...