Not available to order
Publication date:
16 October 2011Length of book:
296 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442206656
During the twentieth century, the Balkan Peninsula was affected by three major waves of genocides and ethnic cleansings, some of which are still being denied today. In Balkan Genocides Paul Mojzes provides a balanced and detailed account of these events, placing them in their proper historical context and debunking the common misrepresentations and misunderstandings of the genocides themselves.
A native of Yugoslavia, Mojzes offers new insights into the Balkan genocides, including a look at the unique role of ethnoreligiosity in these horrific events and a characterization of the first and second Balkan wars as mutual genocides. Mojzes also looks to the region's future, discussing the ongoing trials at the International Criminal Tribunal in Yugoslavia and the prospects for dealing with the lingering issues between Balkan nations and different religions. Balkan Genocides attempts to end the vicious cycle of revenge which has fueled such horrors in the past century by analyzing the terrible events and how they came to pass.
A native of Yugoslavia, Mojzes offers new insights into the Balkan genocides, including a look at the unique role of ethnoreligiosity in these horrific events and a characterization of the first and second Balkan wars as mutual genocides. Mojzes also looks to the region's future, discussing the ongoing trials at the International Criminal Tribunal in Yugoslavia and the prospects for dealing with the lingering issues between Balkan nations and different religions. Balkan Genocides attempts to end the vicious cycle of revenge which has fueled such horrors in the past century by analyzing the terrible events and how they came to pass.
Mojzes's book concerns ethnic cleansing or genocide in the Balkans three separate times in the 20th century. He bases his analysis on both primary and secondary sources, and the scope of the work as a whole is one of a region where violence built from one generation to the next. His research on the Balkan Wars (1912-13) is valuable, for while that series of conflicts has been told before, Mojzes (religious studies, Rosemont College) focuses on the killing between ethnic groups that is chilling and distinct from Great Power politics. From that point, it did not take much ignition from the Nazis to spark genocide in the region during WW II. Mojzes's discussion of the Jasenovac camps, both what the sources and the partisan politicians recount, is instructive. The author concludes with a glimpse into the genocide as Yugoslavia was breaking up, and the complexity of how to sort through such bestial killing both legally and morally. This study includes important details for scholars and students....Mojzes has written a study on which other scholars will be able to build. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.