Rating: 
Summary: More Garbage From A Biased Source
Review:
Nothing new here but lies and half truths..His assesment of Orthodoxy is totally garbage....Good book for the trash can.
Rating:
Summary: Bringing back the ghosts of collective stigmatisation.
Review: As if history was substitution for a-bomb,that is how this bookshould be understood. Now,I have no objection to the implicit idea ofbringing back 1389's ethnic borders as a measure for political borders,but i know that some other people have such an objection.The guiding idea is that Serbs are guilty for majority of evils in 2.000 miles radius from Belgrade around,ever since the Flood.This book with allienate the objective reader and will evoke Nazi-like propaganda-not a insultive one,but softer and more carefull one.Every "argument" contained within is progressively rejected by incoming books of historiografic nature about the Yugoslav Wars,therefore I would recomend those readers who are not looking for propaganda literature because of its prosaic qualities,to spare brain-cells for both either strictly factographic books or interpretative ones with holistic outlook plus representative of explanation about those aspect of propaganda warfare used against Serbs by the West in last years. END
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect!
Review: Coming from a foreigner (a 'stranger' as they say in the Serbian language) this book is a jewel. The Serbian mind is so intricated that it is very difficult to decipher for someone who is not actually Serbian. Judah is the exception: his book achieves that knowledge of the Serbian mind and soul that the reader can understand the Balkan events from a Serbian perspective (not the garbage of analysis we see published in the Western media). Last time I was in Belgrade, Judah's book was displayed in a bookstore window right in the middle of Trg Republike.
Judah elaborates on almost every subject of Serbian nationalism- all the way from is it 'Serb' or 'Serbian'?- to the quintessential components of religion and history. Someone has said that 'this book predicted the conflict of Kosovo', an opinion I do not share at all. (See Miranda Vickers, for instance)
Rating:
Summary: Insightful and well-balanced cover of a complicated conflict
Review: Compared to so many other books on the recent history of Yugoslavia Judah's book is insightful and engaging. Of the many books I have read on this topic in recent years this is by far one of the best. It is also refreshingly free from the prejudices to which many other authors fall. Oskar Lindström
Rating: 
Summary: useful read on serbian history and recent events
Review: Cover text is appalling and does not reflect a reasonably balanced and researched content. However, I still find accounts of events leading to the recent conflict too deterministic.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Excellent history lesson. To understand the Balkans you must read this. If you look at the world exclusively through nationalist Serb eyes, you won't enjoy it because the truth hurts. An open minded person recognizes this.Your grandfather's version of history is his version not the real version.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended if you want perspective on the Balkan War
Review: I purchased this book to learn more about the Balkan war after hearing an interview with Tim Judah on NPR. The book lived up to my expectations. Judah's treatment of the 17th Century Balkans at the beginning of the book is a little confusing to someone with no historical perspective on the area. He seems to jump around often, and he trys to tie ancient events to recent ones which makes this seem worse. As the book reaches the World War I period, it is much easier to follow. What I got out of the book is that the troubles plaguing the Balkans today, have roots centuries old. The claims the Serbs have made in Croatia, Bosnia and, most recently, Kosovo, date back to territorial boundaries which existed before the Ottoman Empire. The current leadership of Serbia has manipulated the media and public opinion in at Nazi-like fashion that has resulted in neighbors turning on each other in a futile war over silly goals. I can say that after reading the book, I understand what happened in the Bosnian War. I cannot say I understand why it happened.
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Book On The Balkans Since "Balkan Ghosts"
Review: It is truly unfortunate that this is on of the only widely available books on Serb history at the present time, because the work is regretfully loaded with inaccuracies, stereotypes and simple bias -- it is worthless as a 'history book', really.Judah has a point, of course -- Serbia's present-day leadership cynically manipulated the Serbs by using Serb history to fan the flames of war. Fair enough. But Judah goes further than that to call into question the legitimacy of the very underpinnings of Serb identity -- the Orthodox Church, the Nemanjic Dynasty, the Kosovo history, the rebellions against the Turks, etc. -- everything the Serbs have ever done is subject to attack and criticism in this book in an incredibly simple-minded, lop-sided and selective recounting of events. But, more fundamentally, even Judah's core thesis is overly simplified because it downplays the very significant roles played by Tudjman and, to a lesser extent, Izetbegovic in proviking the conflict which ensued. In particular, it virtually ignores the cynical political play which Tudjman engaged in, and which was ultimately mouch more successful in terms of ethnic cleansing than Milosevic has been. Yes, the Serbs, particularly the Bosnian Serbs, did some bad things during the recent conflict, but the master puppetmaster was not Milosevic, but Tudjman, who simply bided his time, curried Western (especially German) support and then in 1995 ruthlessly cleansed the Krajina and the Vojvodina of Serbs who had lived there for hundreds of years. You see, Milosevic uses nationalism for his own ends, he manipulates it -- he doesn't really believe in it, but uses it as a tool to keep himself in power. Tudjman, on the other hand, really did believe in Croatian nationalism, and eventually got his way by ridding Croatia of almost all of its Serbs, finishing the work that the Croatian Nazis left undone 50 years before. There is a lot of blame to go around for what has happened in Yugoslavia in recent years. Certainly the Serbs have a large portion of that blame. But to ignore the other sources of blame here, and simply focus on vilifying one of the parties to the conflict, is to present a hopelessly twisted and distorted picture that is at least as untruthful as the mythological history which Judah accuses the Serbs of entertaining in this pitiful "book".
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: It seems as though anyone that raises a voice against Serbian propaganda is immediately branded a racist anti-orthodox zealot. This is certainly what's happened with Mr. Judah and it is just as certainly false. Mr. Judah does a good job of presenting the facts about the Serbian history and mentality. Like many prominent historians and journalists he draws the conclusion that the conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia were caused by two factors: 1. A leadership that preyed on it's own people to advance it's interests. 2. A population that has been spoon-fed so much revisionist history and propaganda that it is incredibly malleable and suffers from a martyrdom complex. To see many of the points in this book illustrated by time and history read Mr. Judah's next book, Kosovo: War and Revenge.
Rating:
Summary: JUST ANOTHER BOOK FULL OF IT
Review: It's very unfortunate how people in this country have been brainwashed for years by their government. Anything they read or hear on TV is taken for a fact while on the other hand terrorists from the White House are murdering millions of people worldwide. Don't be surpriced when another, even worse 9/11 happens. People all over the world are full of rage against the Americans, and you people from this country should wonder why.
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