The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia

Two fine and well-written works. . . . The authors, British journalists who covered the Yugoslav wars, are well worth reading. Their respective accounts give insights into the historical baggage the Yugoslav ethnic groups brought to their latest convulsions. -Dusko Doder, Boston Globe

Tim Judah has written a lively and balanced history of the Serbs that begins with their successful medieval efforts to establish a state and ends with their failed attempt in the 1990s to create Greater Serbia. -Aleksa Djilas, New York Times Book Review

A very good book...Judah cleverly interprets Serbia's sad present in the light of its past. -Sunday Times

[Tanner and Judah] bring to bear wide knowledge of Yugoslavia and shared experience of Europe's worst war since 1945. Each gives a good historical survey and an account of the war's causes. -The Economist

Readable and stimulating. . . . Judah's book is a polemical attempt to counter the 'demonisation' of the Serbs. But it is far from being a whitewash: with very few exceptions, he successfully walks the tightrope between 'balance' and relativisation. -Brendan Simms, Times Higher Education Supplement

An eloquent plea for the centrality of the past in any explanation of the catastrophic present. . . . A remarkable book about Croatia. -David Rieff, Globe & Mail

The book's scope and quality recommend it. -Zachary T. Irwin, Library Journal

Judah's book is probably the best attempt to date to explain the calamitous situation of the Serbs today through a meticulous consideration of the Serb past. -David Rieff, Toronto Globe and Mail

Tim Judah's book is an ambitious and valiant attempt to bring together the real history of the Serbs and the myths and theories in which that history was handed down. -Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard

Judah has written a readable and intelligent volume, carefully researched and judiciously constructed . . . about the unsuccessful attempts of the Serbs to re-create a greater Serbia. -William Peter Kaldis, History: Reviews of New Books

In addition to being a work of real quality. . . . [it] fills an important gap. . . . A mix of on-the-spot reportage, history and analysis, well-researched and proof-read and conveying a sense both of immediacy and of a wider perspective. -Christopoher Cviic, International Affairs

[This book] is well paced, reasonably succinct and very readable; [it] very properly and interestingly uses broad sweeps of history to help explain recent developments and present circumstances. -George Bull, International Minds

A stunning new history. -Robert Fisk, Irish Times

I found Judah's work to be highly original, providing new insight into our reading of the collapse of Yugoslavia and the rise of Serbian nationalism. In addition, his treatment of Serbian history was also thorough and clever. . . . [It] is extremely well written and interesting. Judah weaves together a rich tapestry of historical Serbian myths, and demonstrates their current applicability in Serbian national thought, and as motivating factors in the Yugoslav crisis. -David B. MacDonald, Millennium, Journal of International Studies

This book is much better than any comparable volume. . . . The entire book is very readable and tells a compelling story. -South Slav Journal

The aim of this book is to trace the history of the Serbs and to explain how they came to be where they are, and in the case of Croatia were until 1995. It is to trace the way that the centre of Serbian life migrated with its people from south to north and to explain how the idea of 'Serbdom,' as the Serbs call it, was kept alive during the centuries of Ottoman rule. It is also to explore why, with the fall of communism, they enthusiastically acclaimed Slobodan Milosevic, an opportunistic and cynical leader who was interested only in power. -From the preface