BALKANS by Mazower, Mark ISBN 1842124633
From Student Book World
|
[edit] BALKANS
Designed to respond to the general public's interest in the Balkans, this book explores the historical roots of current conflicts and social and political developments. Beginning with the emergence of nation-states in the 19th century, it takes the story through to the current search for stability.
At the end of the twentieth century people spoke as if the Balkans had plagued Europe forever. But two hundred years earlier, the Balkans did not exist. It was not the Balkans but the 'Rumeli' that the Ottomans ruled, the formerly Roman lands that they had conquered from Byzanlium, together with its Christian inhabitants. To westerners, too, familiar with classical regional terms such as Macedonia, Epiros and Dacia, the term 'Balkan' conveyed little. 'My expectations were raised', wrote one traveller in 1854, 'by hearing that we were about to cross a Balkan; but I discovered ere long that this high-sounding little denotes only a ridge which divides the waters, or a mountain pass.' In this dazzlingly original account of the region Mark Mazower dispels current Western cliches and replaces stereotypes with a vivid account of how mountains, empires and religions have shaped its inhabitants' lives. As a bridge between Europe and Asia it has been exposed to a constant incursion of nomadic peoples across the centuries. Mountain ranges made farming hard and political control almost impossible, and allowed small communities to live side by side through to the end of the twentieth century. Empires based on religion not ethnicity shaped customs and beliefs in ways that did not entirely vanish with the coming of modernity. Mazower's narrative ranges broadly both in time - from the Romans to the present, including the Byzantine and Ottoman experiences - and in space, treating the former Turkish domains in Europe as part of a common if complex historical inheritance. One of our outstanding historians of modern Europe, he has written a book of extraordinary richness and concision, which provides not only a vital historical and cultural background to contemporary Balkan politics but also offers the reader a fresh view of the region's relationship with Europe as a whole.
[edit] Book Details
[edit] Title
BALKANS
[edit] Author
Mazower, Mark
[edit] ISBN
1842124633
[edit] Published
07/06/2001
[edit] Publisher
Phoenix Press, WC2
[edit] Binding
paperback (C format)
[edit] Retail Price
7.99 (GBP)
[edit] Typical Price Online
7.99 (GBP)
[edit] Buy Book Online
If you wish to purchase BALKANS, written by Mazower, Mark and published by Phoenix Press, WC2 on 07/06/2001 then we have listed a few select online book retailers who can provide good value and service.
| ISBN 1842124633 |
|---|
Plant Talk Instant Dial using their Just Dial Service. Purchase your T-Mobile Top Up Voucher here. Make international calls easier using this Pinless Service
