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Rating: 
Summary: 4 Sentence Review
Review: 1) I went into this book without any previous eduation on the subject, but a genuine interest in learning about the Balkans
2) For the novice, this book is written WAY over your head (assumed prior knowledge, vocabulary)
3) On top of that, I felt that even if I had been up to speed prior to this book, it would have been just a BORING.
4) "A short history" incorrectly implies that a layman can use this book; maybe students would fare better.
Rating: 
Summary: A short history of the Balkans.
Review: As a couple of the previous reviewers have noted, this was supposed to be a good short read of the Balkans. Unfortunately, it was dry, dry, dry. The author loves to throw in a lot of ten dollar words in this thesis about the Balkans. One wonders what his ultimate purpose was in writing this book.
I picked up a few themes from his book. One was that Ottomon Empire and the some of the Communist regimes papered over the ethnic differences. At the same time, the ethnic differences were not a big deal for most of the time in the Balkans. Neither were the religious differences, as the population tended to chose what parts of the various practices to follow.
For me, this was not a particularly interesting read. At slighty over a hundred pages, one would assume you could breeze through this book. But the writing and the words used, resulted in me taking six and a half hours to read this book. There are more interesting books out there including Misha Glenny with his The Balkans. I would probably consult that book if I wanted information.
Rating: 
Summary: Enlightening!
Review: I found this book interesting, but feel like I lacked some of the pre-information needed to truly digest it. I consider myself well-read and geographically literate, but didn't know where a lot of the places were located, what a lot of the events the author obliquely refers to were, or what some of the terms used (e.g., "the Porte") meant. Because of this, I had to force myself to get through it. I did so because I hate hearing people attempt to explain the situation in the Balkans with a simple "Oh, they're historical enemies." In other words, I was looking for someone to tell me in about 150 pages all about 1,000 years of history. I think the author does succeed in doing that -- I have a better understanding of the situation than I did. But I think I have to read a lot more to decipher much of the information I now have. Maybe I'm just a dummy.
Rating:
Summary: Concise, Clearly Written & Comprehensive
Review: In approximately 185 pages, the author manages to convey and briefly analyze significant historical events in the Balkans in a disciplined scholarly manner. I found the book very engaging and readable. I was amazed at the broad scope of information covered. It was not dull, dry or filled with boring details. He begins to unravel the "mystery" of the Balkans by a description of the land and terrain from which the word "Balkans" originated, few people realize the term was coined only about 200 years ago. For human interest, the author intersperses descriptions from diaries written 150 years ago or so by travelers to the region. We have been led to believe the regional conflicts have been ongoing since the beginning of time .. not so, and the author tells us why! Mark Mazower tells us when the conflicts started and who the major players are. The natural environment, mountains and valleys, created a lifestyle which is mostly agrarian and land-locked. The mountains made the area isolated and almost impenetrable both physically and ideologically to the more "civilized" ideas and industries of the more progressive Westernized European nations. One can understand how the region catapulted into an urbanized industrial complex *only* within the past 200 years. The author clearly writes about the social and political impact of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkans. I was impressed how the author could connect the "peasant values" and lifestyle with the political forces which constantly shaped and redefined the area. The migration of people and their adaptability to the imposed changes due to wars and conflicts is totally amazing. The impact of the decisions of the Great Powers on "nation-building" in the region was explained with erudite precision. The importance of the Greek language in the region due to the past is brought to light. The author's ability to tie ancient history to current events is quite remarkable. This book is highly recommended to anyone who has a desire to learn more about the people and history of the Balkans. It is written by a highly knowledgeable author, former Princeton University professor, who has no personal agenda or ties to the region.
Erika B. (erikab93)
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and Enlightening
Review: Mazower takes on the whole history of the region from the fifteenth century onward, and while the shortness of the book requires generalization, he peppers almost every paragraph with a quote or two from a historian of the time or else a peasant or notable. These quotes tend to ground Mazower's sweeping analysis. Moreover, he puts the Balkans into the context of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, and he shows why individual studies of each nation in the region sometimes miss a larger context. One fact needs to be corrected: the Patriarchate in Istanbul now presides not only over the 2,000 Greek Orthodox Christians in that city, but also over all the Greek Orthodox Christians in Australia, and North and South America, as well as some non-Greek denominations in those continents. If I'm not mistaken, the Palestinian and Syrian Orthodox churches also come nominally under that Ecumenical guidance.
Rating: 
Summary: Very thorough!
Review: Thia ia probably more than I wanted to know on the subject. He concentrates on the past 3 centuries with only slight attention to the past 50 years. In any case, it is a good description of this toubled area of the world. Apparently the entire history of the Balkans is really a history of religious strife, between Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims. One wonders if these tensions and wars have come to an end or if they just lost the stage at this time to other world crises.
Rating:
Summary: Academic in a Good Way
Review: This Balkans book is truly a "Short History" as it is labeled, only 156 pages, but it packs a lot of information into its pages. It has a wonderful chronology of history and seven useful sequential maps of the Balkans at the beginning. It incorporates geology of the region to good purpose. It fills in the Byzantium and Ottoman history in a fine academic way, putting one into the structure of life under those eras. It challenges the idea of Ottoman rule as somehow backward or primitive, repeatedly comparing the tolerance of three religious groups, and freedom of peasants under Ottoman rule with far less "modern" or tolerant attitudes in Western Europe at comparable times. But 150 odd pages is just too little to get to the end, when Princeton history professor Mazower tries to tackle the violence of the 20th century. He has built a good case for nationalism rather than religion taking over people's sense of themselves, and lays blame on the great powers for introducing it without the structure to control it. The final chapter "On Violence"is only 9 pages long. This book starts off better than it ends, but it is a nice companion to Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan, which is more personal, and less academic, though still filled with historical information. But Mazower's academic is helpful in understanding geology, sociology, history, religion and government in a way which fills in the pieces, like a good college introduction should, even if too short.
Rating:
Summary: Concise
Review: Very good information delivered in the best way possible.
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