REVIEWS 36I curiously unprepared for the re-emergence of social interests and partisan politics at local level. Both aredepictedprimarilyaspathologicalimpediments to community modernization. Here, a more critical view of the culturallyembedded Czech and Slovak views of the obecas an autonomous organic community beyond politics might have yielded furtherinsights. Overall, however, LocalCommunities andPost-Communist Transformation represents a set of solid empirical research findings, enlivened by Simon Smith's more wide-ranging ideas, which will be of interestto specialistson the Czech Republic and Slovakia,local politics and micro-economic transformation. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies SEAN HANLEY University College London Todorova, Maria (ed.).Balkan Identities: NationandMemoy.Hurst&Company, London, 2004. x + 374 pp. Notes. Index. [45.00; [17.50. WHEN he looks towardsthe past, WalterBenjamin'sangel of historysees only 'a single catastrophe',not a 'chain of events'. Few metaphors, one is tempted to argue, epitomize more forcefullythe dominant perceptions of the Balkan past. In fact, views of an unchanging past of unremittinghorrorhave become so entrenched, that even the name 'Balkan' is being forced out, as Balkan states (and scholars)increasinglyseek refuge under the more convenient roof of 'Central'or 'SoutheasternEurope'. It would appear that even the Balkans wish to escape from themselves. In her introduction to this impressive collection of studies, Maria Todorova acknowledges that 'the guiding principle'behind this volume is an 'attemptto normalisethe Balkans ... .] in the scholarlyfield' (p. 17). She is eminently qualified to preside over such an undertaking, for her own seminal work Imagining theBalkans(Oxford, I997) has gone a long way in analysing the construction of the Balkans by the Western imagination. The task itself is daunting enough, and encounters serious obstacles: Balkan studies are largely fragmented, and locked into ethnocentric narratives that leave little room for comparative approaches, while few specialistswould masterthe necessarylanguagesand vast secondary literaturesof adjacentfieldsthatwould allow for an interdisciplinaryanalysis. BalkanIdentities is a highly competent attempt to redress many of these imbalances. Its main aim is to explore the local and national politics of memory and the mechanismsthat construct,celebrate, internalizeand diffuse it. This is an important subject for, although all nations dream, the Balkans have mostly nightmares.The book, product of a conference sponsoredby the Centre for Democracy and Reconciliation in (predictably?)South-Eastern Europe,bringstogethersixteen contributionsfromhistorians,anthropologists and literary scholars, structuredaround three parts. The firstdeals with the social production of memories and national identities, and includes perceptions of the past by individualsand diasporiccommunities (LeylaNeyzi on an Alevi-Kurdish girl from eastern Turkey, and Nergis Canefe on TurkishCypriot 'sperception of their past);the central role of the Kosovo epic in the moulding of Serbian nationalism (sensitively discussed by Milica BakicHayden ); the 'ambivalence' which Shannan Peckham detects in the attitude 362 SEER, 83, 2, 2005 of the modernGreekstatetowardsits regions:considering them'authentic spaces'but at the sametime requiring'taming'(p. 57);an anthropological analysisof theroleof narratives inAlbania(Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers), andasubtlediscussion ofthewayinwhichBulgarian literature, historiography and film engagewith the sensitiveissueof Bulgarianconversionsto Islam duringthe periodof Ottomanrule (MariaTodorova).The secondpartis tightlyorganizedaroundthe subjectof heroesandtheirmonuments. Many Balkanheroes,likediamonds,areforever,buttheirglittervariesovertime, andtheiruseschangeasnationalnarratives stepin to fashionandre-fashion them, to claim them as 'nationalheroes',or to vilifythem as despicable 'traitors'. Inthisfascinating sectionJosipJelacic% (DunjaRihtman-Augustin), PavlosMelas (AnastasiaKarakasidou) and Boris Sarafov(Keith Brown) receivemulti-layered andtheoretically alerttreatment. IvanColovicdiscusses the transformation of criminalsinto national heroes during the recent Yugoslav wars,andMariaBucuroffersa perceptive analysis of thepoliticsof remembrance intwentieth-century Romania.Thefinalpartofthebookdeals withthemechanisms oftransmission ofnationalidentity bycloselyexamining an importantconveyor-belt:history textbooksin Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria (byDubravka Stojanovic, Mirela-Luminita Murgescu andAlexander Kiossev).This section includesa wide-rangingexplorationof an elusive animal(GreekidentitybyCostaCarras), anda genuinelycomparative study byDianaMishkova, on howtheSerbianandRomanianpoliticalelitesofthe nineteenthcenturypositionedthemselvesbetweenthe discreet(andnot so discreet)charmof Westernization and an attachmentto theirown "'inner contents" '(p. 287). Manyeditedbooksofferlessthanthesumoftheirparts.Happily,thisisnot the case here. Most of the chaptersare firmlyclusteredaroundconcrete subjects, allowing forthemainthreadsofthebooktoemergeclearly,withthe addedbenefitof not beingdisfigured byjargon.The carpingreviewermay have askedfor cross-references linkingthe individualchapters,and would regret some omissions.Scanderbeg,the fifteenth-century Christianhero claimedbybothAlbanians andGreeksastheirkinin thenineteenth century, adornsthecoverofthebook,butnotitscontents.Bothhe,andGoceDelchev, whosebonesweretransferred fromSofiato Skopjein the 1940Sbutwhose allegiancesmay had travelledthe oppositeway, offer good examplesof contestedmemoriesandidentities. Thebreathandgeographical scopeofthe book,however,whichcoverstheentireregion,morethancompensate forthe inevitable omissions. Thatsaid,theinclusion ofTurkey meritssomediscussion. Obviously, theOttomanlegacyisofparamount importance, butwhetherthe modernTurkishrepublicis partof the Balkansremainsdebatable.On the whole,thissolidandtheoretically informed volumeisanimportant contributiontoafieldthatsorelylacksapproaches thatstraddle borders anddisciplines. Histogy Department D. LIVANIOS Brown University, Providence, RI ...