Balkan Ghosts - A Journey Through History **1/2

By Robert D. Kaplan.

Published by First Vintage Departures 1994.

Hard Cover - St Martin's Press 1993.

287 pages.

From the title, it's easy enough to surmise the content of this book. It's the history of the Balkans. But it does have a slightly weird premise. It's not only history but it's a travel book. Now, when I think of travel books I think of tour guides. The ones that tell you which places you need to see and visit, so I was confused when the author called this a travel book, because he definitely is not recommending places to visit, though you could certainly visit some of these places if you wished.

I guess there is a difference between a travel book and a tour guide. In this book anyway, the author does travel, but he writes about the history and the politics of each place he visits as he visits those places. So it's a historical book.

I like a book, especially non-fiction, that is highly readable. Not too dry, or confusing. I like a well written, well told story when it comes to non-fiction. This book partially succeeds. There are some pockets of very interesting passages in the book, but it does get a little hard to follow at times too. This may not be completely the fault of the writer, since the task he takes on is so huge.

He write about all the Balkan countries. They include Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and the former Yugoslavia territories (which include Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia). He does not include Hungary which is included in his map, perhaps because , as he briefly mentions, it's culture is too European, though it is geographically part of the Balkans (I make that assumption since he includes Hungary on his map). He also spends the most time on Romania and Bulgaria.

It's no wonder the text can be so confusing. There are multitudes of characters, organizations, political parties etc., in each country. He does try to focus on one or two characters in each chapter (The chapters are divided by countries) and on the more recent events of the 1970's, 80's and 90's. That is helpful for the flow of the narrative, but he needs to give background, so he has to go further into that long and almost ancient past and to discuss a multitude of characters and events. All these places and characters are what makes the book confusing. He could have written about any of the countries during a specific time and have enough detail in information to fill a whole book. But he covers (almost) all the countries and several hundred years of history. Maybe a more specific thesis for the book might have been helpful.

So here's what I got out of the reading. Only the most basic concepts are what stick with me during this writing.

There are three religious groups all mixed together in these lands, especially in the former Yugoslavia. Closer to Europe (Austria borders Croatia) are the Catholic Christians - hence Croatia has more European feeling. As one goes further south-East , there are more Orthodox Christians - the ancestors of the Byzantine Empire. And the areas furthest East (Albania for example) are of course mostly Muslim - ancestors of the Turkish Empire. And these three Empires, throughout history have been constantly at war with each other and the hostilities continue until contemporary times. Especially in the East where Turkish and Byzantine groups were constantly at war. The details are different in each country, but the basic idea is the same. The Balkans, because of their location, was and still is the original battleground between the East and the West. This is of course all a generalization.

To be more specific, his travels through Romania, especially the Eastern part are particularly grim with tales of poverty , corruption and prostitution. He was constantly approached by prostitutes when he was there.

Everyone knows about Greece and their classic Hellenic background, but the author makes the case that their many years under Byzantine domination make that country more culturally Byzantine and hence, more Balkan than European.

I requested this book through the Chicago Public Library and I requested an older edition since there were more copies available. Again, this book was written when many of the crises in the Balkans still had not been resolved. I would have liked to have seen a later edition, in which I am sure there would have been updates. I wonder what's going on there now?

The following videos are neither exciting nor well produced and the narrator is almost incomprehensible. Who chose the music! But there are some pictures and maps which are based directly on the book.





P.S. I noted something interesting while looking for appropriate videos. There were lots of videos showing future maps where some countries disappeared and and others grew at their expense. In the comments were lots of cursing and racial name calling. The hate is still there even today.