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Recommended:
Kosovo: A Short History
By Noel Malcolm. Pan, 1998, 492 pages, ISBN 0330412248.
Published just before the NATO bombs started falling in 1999, Noel Malcolm’s epic history of Kosovo is generally acknowledged to be the most balanced critique of one of the world’s most misunderstood, historically enigmatic and politically sensitive regions. An Oxford history graduate and former political columnist for the Daily Telegraph, Malcolm’s colossal history attempts to understand the current situation in Kosovo by analysing almost every manuscript relating to the demographics of the region written over the last fifteen hundred years. By looking at censuses, diaries, ancient travelogues and other documents the book discovers more booby traps than answers, introduces the reader to the strange and complicated world of the crypto-Catholic and generally serves as an excellent tool for unlocking the strange and beautiful culture of the southern Balkans. Despite his best efforts at neutrality, the author comes out of the book slightly in favour of the Albanians, but he does remain apolitical enough to give the reader an entertaining as well as a thought-provoking read. If you’ve got enough room in your hand luggage or are a kilo or so under with your baggage allowance, the book is well worth bringing along with you as it’s unlikely you’ll finish it unless you start reading it a year or so before you leave. Heavy stuff indeed.
Kosovo: A Short History
By Noel Malcolm. Pan, 1998, 492 pages, ISBN 0330412248.
Published just before the NATO bombs started falling in 1999, Noel Malcolm’s epic history of Kosovo is generally acknowledged to be the most balanced critique of one of the world’s most misunderstood, historically enigmatic and politically sensitive regions. An Oxford history graduate and former political columnist for the Daily Telegraph, Malcolm’s colossal history attempts to understand the current situation in Kosovo by analysing almost every manuscript relating to the demographics of the region written over the last fifteen hundred years. By looking at censuses, diaries, ancient travelogues and other documents the book discovers more booby traps than answers, introduces the reader to the strange and complicated world of the crypto-Catholic and generally serves as an excellent tool for unlocking the strange and beautiful culture of the southern Balkans. Despite his best efforts at neutrality, the author comes out of the book slightly in favour of the Albanians, but he does remain apolitical enough to give the reader an entertaining as well as a thought-provoking read. If you’ve got enough room in your hand luggage or are a kilo or so under with your baggage allowance, the book is well worth bringing along with you as it’s unlikely you’ll finish it unless you start reading it a year or so before you leave. Heavy stuff indeed.