Balkan Holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian Victim Centered Propaganda and the War in Yugoslavia [Paperback]

David Bruce Macdonald (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0719064678 | ISBN-13: 978-0719064678 | Publication Date: April 19, 2003

Balkan Holocausts? compares and contrasts Serbian and Croatian propaganda from 1986 to 1999, analyzing each group's contemporary interpretations of history and current events. It offers a detailed discussion of holocaust imagery and the history of victim-centered writing in nationalism theory, including the links between the comparative genocide debate, the so-called holocaust industry, and Serbian and Croatian nationalism. No studies on Yugoslavia have thus far devoted significant space to such analysis.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[T]he author has succeeded in exploring his subject in a way which is both lively and genuinely informative. ... extremely well written, based on a wide range of relevant sources and sensible and generally persuasive in its judgements ... His discussion of the debate about the Holocaust is sophisticated and based on a thorough knowledge of the relevant debates." -- James Mayall, Cambridge University

About the Author

David Bruce Macdonald is Lecturer in Political Studies, University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Manchester University Press (April 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719064678
• ISBN-13: 978-0719064678
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,611,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The propaganda war, April 3, 2005

By 

David (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balkan Holocausts?: Serbian and Croatian Victim Centered Propaganda and the War in Yugoslavia (Hardcover)

A great book to understand why the Yugloslav people went to war in 1991. MacDonald shows how the Holocaust was instrumentalized during the nineties by both Croats, Muslims and Serbs, in order to portray the other republics as evil enemies bound on the destruction of the other nationalities. By claiming a role as victim, nationalist leaders like Milosevic and Tudjman could rally support for a war against the other republics, relying heavily on Yugoslav history. Croats were portrayed as descendants of the fascist Ustasa-regime, which ruled Croatia during WW II and persecuted Jews and Serbs alike. This "genocidal nature", Serb nationalists claimed, wasn't erased by history and manifested itself again, and therefore legitimized a "defensive war". Croat nationalists told the same horror stories to prove the Serbian "genocidal nature", which would explain why independence and a war against Serbs were necessary for the Croatian people to survive. Although McDonald often repeats the same message, he does succeed in making clear why Croats, Serbs and Muslims went to war in 1991. Mind that this is an academic book, primairly aimed at historians and university students.