Croatia: A Nation Forged in War

Rating:
Summary: Good intoduction to Croatian history
Review: A book that needs to be read, if only for the shedding of light on Croatian history, which for too long was hidden or re- written by others. Putting aside his conclusions to the recent war, which seem to arose most criticism, he has written an even handed history of Croatia since early times, although sometimes he fails to place Croatia in its historical context, as a small nation in the greater general upheavals of Europe. Even so, Tanner has relied on many varied sources, not just myths created since the Second World War by both Western and East European historians, which many Western historians are now acknowledging as myths, half tuths or deceptions, of which Tanner is one.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and comprehensive
Review: As the people of a young country, U.S. citizens do not typically relate to the deep ties many foreign cultures have to their homeland. Consequently, Americans may struggle to understand ethnic conflict around the world. Marcus Tanner, an award winning British journalist, explains the historical dynamics of the Balkans in "Croatia: A Nation Forged in War." Events in Croatia's history, like the influence of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Mongol and Ottoman invasions, alliances with the Hungarian and then the Habsburg monarchies, Nazi Germany and Communist coups, and the recent conflicts with Yugoslavia are discussed thoroughly in this detailed study.

Rating:
Summary: One of the rare books in English on Croatian history
Review: Mr Tanner sets out to dissolve a nation's thousand year history and crystallize it into a three hundred page book.The fact that he attempts to do this by cramming in as much detail as he can possibly muster results in a cursive, factual catch-all leaving little room for analysis or explanation.

Having said this, Mr Tanner is to be praised for the undoubted erudition of his research. Detail piles upon detail, fact upon fact. The reader soon realises that here is history of the "this happened,followed by this, resulting in this" genre. The danger in presenting us with this wealth of historical minutae is that it too frequently makes for laborious consumption and all too often results in literary indigestion. This is particularly so when Mr Tanner negotiates the post-medieval, pre-19th Century period of Austro-Hungarian imperialism. Disappointingly, he fails to enlighten the reader as to any relevance that this period may have to the fierce nationalism so much in evidence today.

We are all aware of the cataclysmic events of recent Balkan history. Such hatred, brutality and blind ethnic partisanship is crying out for sound, unbiased analysis. Unfortunately, Mr Tanner does not provide us with this analysis though he does at least try to present his facts in an objective, unbiased manner. For instance, he even-handedly devotes one page to the horrors perpetrated by the Croatian Ustashe at Jasenovac and a further page to the slaughter of tens of thousands of Croats by the (largely Serbian) partisans at Bleiberg.

His failure to expand upon the importance of these watershed events ( which in particular underpinned and justified the later Serbian ethos of "revenge") leaves a vacuum in our understanding of the visceral hatred between these two almost culturally identical people.

The result is that the profound effect that these and other atrocities (both real and imagined) had upon the psyche of Croat and Serb alike is not fully explored. If he could have presented us with more human and emotional insights into the causes of the 1991 war we would have been better served than the dry, almost colourless historical narrative his work represents.

In summary, a good overview of the historical facts but with little real insight into what has made Croatia the nation it is today

Rating:
Summary: Seems Good, But Hard To Tell!
Review: My fiancee and I were both really eager to read this book, we'd heard good things about it and are planning a trip to Croatia. Unfortunately, it's so poorly typeset that it's a real struggle to read! We both got about 15-20 pages into it and just couldn't continue, we were getting headaches (no joke). The problem is that the text is just too densely set, there's no breathing room whatsoever. Yale Press has a done a real disservice to the author.

Rating:
Summary: Amateur history
Review: Tanner covered wartime events in Croatia during the early 1990s as a newspaper correspondent, and based on this experience he decided to take on the ambitious project of writing a history of Croatia. In Croatia, and in this part of Europe in general, such a work is referred to as "publicistic," meaning it was not written by a qualified historian or political scientist. This is obvious throughout the book: Tanner rather quickly masticates centuries of Croatian history (or perhaps more correctly stated - history in Croatia) to get to the most recent period of independence and war, with which he is most familiar. His summary of Croatian history before this depends almost entirely on secondary sources, some of them middling books translated into English over the last ten years and meant to serve as promotional tools for the new Croatian state (e.g. a monograph on the Croatian parliament, among others). Thus, Tanner (probably unintentionally) falls prey to presenting something of a "pro-Croatian" view, as he did not actually do any comprehensive research, thereby precluding any possibility of critically analyzing primary sources. The same holds for his approach to secondary sources for that matter, so even when he does take a critical stance, he just seems to be repeating what others have said before him. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this book is that even the chapters covering wartime events during the 1991-1995 period are largely unoriginal, even though Tanner witnessed most of these events. Much has been written about Yugoslavia's collapse and the ensuing wars in the last ten years, and Tanner's analysis does not differ much from that of dozens of other journalists, scholars and political analysts. In sum, this is a very disappointing book. Those who want a sound, critical overview of Croatian history in English written by a qualified historian should read Ivo Goldstein's "Croatia: A History."

Rating:
Summary: Good, but Simple
Review: Tanner is neither a Croatian nor an academic, and this limits the book in both understanding and the depth of its research. And yet, the book is successful all the same. It is a quick and accurate overview of Croatia's long and complicated history. Useful for those new to the region and its issues. Some of Tanner's conclusions (particularly those for the most recent events) are decidedly pro-Croat nationalist (unabashed support for Tudjman and the HDZ), and the still-important WW2 events are not carefully considered. But overall, it is a good, if simple book. You may want to complement it with Goldstein's history as well.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but Simple
Review: Tanner is neither a Croatian nor an academic, and this limits the book in both understanding and the depth of its research. And yet, the book is successful all the same. It is a quick and accurate overview of Croatia's long and complicated history. Useful for those new to the region and its issues. Some of Tanner's conclusions (particularly those for the most recent events) are decidedly pro-Croat nationalist (unabashed support for Tudjman and the HDZ), and the still-important WW2 events are not carefully considered. But overall, it is a good, if simple book. You may want to complement it with Goldstein's history as well.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but.....
Review: The book was informative, but it did not go into great detail. The period of 1918-41 was glazed over in a few pages, and the extent of Serbian tyrrany and crimes were not fully covered. The massacre of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators on Ban Jelacic Square (where democratic Croatian protesters were gunned down by the Serbian genedarmerie occupation police) on December 5, 1918, was not mentioned, nor the Brusane massacre, nor the Sinj massacre; nor the extent of Serbian domination and hedgemony in the police and military, as well as the brutal repression of ethnic, civil, human, and national rights. One cannot just breeze over the banning of all free speech, press, assmebly, and culture; nor the Serbian police force's beating, jailing, and liquidation of the democratic opposition. Unfortunately, Lampe, Judah, Tanner, and many others do; by doing so, they commit the fallacy of denying the antecedent. Mr. Diljas accuses Tanner of using "predominately Croatian and pro-Croatian sources;" well, can Mr. Diljas tell us who those sources are? If that downplays the legitimacy of the book, how would Mr. Diljas explain the legitimacy of his books (being that he is a Serb and a Communist) and books written by Serbs and Communists over this past century. Thus, it would be that Mr. Diljas and most books written about Croatia and the ex-Yugoslavia (and all of the former Republics) were not and are not free of Serbian nationalistic and Communist idealistic romanticism, and should be read with Critical reserve.

Rating:
Summary: good but lacking
Review: This is a decent book which provides some insight into the struggle of the Croatian people. But it fails to provide the most important information. That is, the background of how Serbian and communist domination and hegemony forced all people of the former Yugoslavia to want to break free from oppresion. I lived in Zagreb in the late 1980s and the fact is that Serbs dominated Police, Military, Education, Politics, Diplomacy throughout Croatia. The fact is that Croatia, a fairly developed republic had to give most of its income to the YU government in Belgrade. The fact is that the Croatians were not allowed to show any national (not nationalistic) pride. How would we Americans feel if we were not allowed to display our flag, sing our anthem or criticise the governemt. That's how it was. The YU constitution allowed for separation of the individual YU republics if so elected in a public poll, which 94% of Croatian inhabitants did. Croatia offered Belgrade a loose confederation at first but Belgrade replied with terrorist attacks. On a personal basis Croats don't hate Serbs. They just wanted their own country, flag, governemtn and peace. If you look at the history, Croatia due to its natural richness and location, was constantly under attack or occupation. Including by the Serbs. But since the Serbs were the ruling republic, they wrote the history books. Why do you think Croatia is always singled out as an ally to Italy/Germany and Serbia isn't? Serbs wrote the history. Serbs were allies with Germany as well. They had brutal forces like the chetniks who killed tens of thousands of Croatians and Bosnians. But that is not common knowledge. But the anti-Nazi uprising started in Croatia, not Serbia. That's something to think about. So, this book is good, but lacks deeper explanations of the reasons behind the conflict.

Rating:
Summary: The best book in English on the history of Croatia
Review: This thoughtful and well written book presents Croatian history without the usual Serbian propaganda. Perhaps Aleksa Djilas (see previous review) could write an additional chapter and include the assorted Serbian fairy tales about "what the Croats are really like". Djilas' famous father made a career out of living in Serbia and bugging Serbia's ruling mafia. The younger Djilas, on the other hand, lives at Harvard and strives to please the same psychotic criminals his father antagonized. Considering the crimes of Serbia over the past decade, this interesting approach to dealing with one's oedipal problems might be a good subject for Tanner's next book.