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Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870-1990

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Dr. Karakasidou's revised doctoral dissertation draws its strengths from the original, in-depth research she did in situ for her dissertation, and its weaknesses from her consequent participation in politically charged debates on modern Greek nation-genesis and transformation. As a case-study in historical sociology/anthropology, this book is competently executed, percipient, well-researched, and skillfully argued. Karakasidou deftly combines multiple social-scientific methodologies and sources of data to describe and analyze the interplay between economic changes (in the structure of possession/property relations in Greek Macedonia), social/demographic changes (voluntary and involuntary population transfers, emigration, and war), and political changes (the establishment and development of an increasingly modern and 'scientific' modern Greek state authority over erstwhile Ottoman Macedonian territories and populations) with the development and evolution of modern ethno-national and civic-national Greek identities. On the other hand, Karakasidou is theoretically weak and her arguments at best tenuous when it comes to describing and analyzing the transition from pre-modern identities to modern regional, ethno-national and civic-national identities. She is clearly biased against the modern Greek state and modern Greek historical and social-scientific scholarship. This extends even to clear mis-representations of the works of Greek scholars, and to patently one-sided and unscholarly treatments of modern Greek nationalism and nationism, and related modern Greek state policies. Finally, there are far too many self-references in this book, to pieces penned by the author, the level of scholarship of which is much inferior to that evident in this particular book. Moreover, one can clearly detect a tendency to pre-emptively strike against criticism on the part of Karakasidou, in that she presents herself all too often and all too eagerly as an alleged 'prodigal daughter' of the modern Greek nation, allegedly airing too much of the latter's 'dirty laundry'. On both counts, she is both mistaken and hyperbolic. All in all, a useful, well-written, but uneven book, which, unfortunately, seeks all too often to make and sustain arguments that are unsupported by the author's actual research, or the scholarly literature she cites. The arguments and evidence of this book, those that are in fact based on and supported by Karakasidou's dissertation research, are neither controversial nor earth-shattering. They are simply good and useful social-scientific scholarship.

This book is a work on (historical?) anthropology and in that field my qualifications are non existent: at best I am an amatuer (in the french sense). That said, I found the arguments of the book rather convincing. The book is obviously well researched and well thought out. I highly recommend it to anybody but esspecially to Greeks like myself who would like to have a look at (a part of) the history of modern Greece, more objective than the myths presented in official textbook-history writing. It is a good start. I can't refrain from commenting on the other reviews. Firstly I dont think that the author chose to participate in "politically charged debates", rather, she was drawn into them. Secondly it is unfair (not to say stupid) to criticise such a book for its limited scope, it is like criticising an encyclopaedia for having a very broad scope! Finally this is an anthropological book and it should be judged as such. To endorse or codemn (!) it based on whether it agrees or not with your "ideology" is an act that says something about the reviewer, but nothing about the book itself.

It was interesting how Anastasia Karakasidou paid only lip service to the nearby "dopyiaka" villages of Drymos and Melisohori when examining the "Hellenization" process of the Langadha basin and in particular Assiros. For the uninformed, this book does a great job in presenting Macedonia as a Hellenic desert, populated by Greek speaking settlers only in the last 150 years. Karakasidou's microscopic studies should have been extended a simple 5km down the road. Failure to do so means that this book falls short of presenting what it's sensationalist title sets out to do.

This is a fascinating look at how the greek national identity grew in Macedonia. It is a complicated history that many Greeks seem to gloss over or deny. The Macedonia of the 1700's was much more Slavic and Muslim than it was Greek. It wasn't until nationalism(bulgarian to the north and greek to the south) and a weakening Ottoman rule that greek national identity entered the picture. Overall this book deals with the questions of national identity in an interesting way and traces the development of families in Macedonia and how Macedonia became greek.

Excellent book accurately depicting the history of the region. The Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia (Northern Greece) have nearly lost their identity due to the consistent barrage of threats and abuse from the irrational, repressive Greek government. Cambridge Press showed its true colors when it buckled under the pressure of Greek terrorists who threatened violence if they published the book. The Greek goverment refuses to recognize Macedonians in that region as a distinct minority for fear that they will have to offer human rights to the 700,000 plus Slavic Macedonians in the region. This just shows how much Greece is "the Cradle of Democracy".

I was amaized to find (and read) book like MS Karakasidou's.It is not so offten that book is writen without prejudice and with bearing the facts of the existence of the Macedonian minority in Republic of Greece. Not Slavophonic Greeks, but Slavic Macedonians, natives to the Northen Greece, the teritory of Makedonia.
We can debate here, of how well,or indepth, of acurate the book is, nothing is perfect in this world, and if it is, it will be boring, so for me this book done its justice. And told the story of forgotten Nation (minority) who's existance can not be forgotten and left on the mercy of the official Athens.
The book its self reise lot of questions and in the same time give lots of answers, wich,person who for first time exopsed to the intricate history of the Balkans and specialy Macedonia, have more clearer picture of things.
I can only aplaude to the honesty, determination and curage of MS Karakasidou, to publish this book.
It is time for the world, to hear about the Macedonian struglle for recognition in Republic of Greece.And Greece's extended eforts of assimilation, and above all the "Democracy" wich eluded this people from 1913 to this day.

Although it is true that the Greek state has been engaged in the past in a policy of assimilating the people of its Slavic-speaking pockets in Macedonia into mainstream Greeks, it is not fair to portray Greece as an irrational, repressive country. Peaceful assimilation is accepted by most countries throughout the world as a means of promoting national unity. I agree that in many cases, assimilation processes were not exactly suave, but in all cases the basic human rights were fully respected, and as a Greek person whose family roots are in the ethnically Greek town of Korytsa (now Korce, Albania) and the formerly ethnically Greek town of Monastiri (now Bitola, FYROM), all I have to say is that the Greek state's mechanisms of repression back in the 50s and 60s pale in comparison to what my people suffered and are still suffering by the Albanian and Old Yugoslav/FYROM authorities. No book will do justice to the Truth about the Balkans, unless it covers the policies of ALL countries of the area. It is not fair to demonize Greece just because Greece is the most open, tolerant and democratic society in the area..

It is interesting to see what other write for reviews based solely on their OWN BIAS and a even mentioned that the author is of Turkish origin . . . NEWS FLASH the war has been over YEARS ago! This book is very much the truth. It is hard understand the views of those who are RACIST, BIASED, and want to have us take their opinion when their do not look from the outside. I have reseached this FOR YEARS, from INSIDE and OUT and I will have to agree with this book, though some parts I do not, very few. SO if your looking to learn more about this "territory" read this and more. And yes I AM Greek! Proud of it everyday as I walk the streets of Athens. But "Pride" here goes TOO far whith more of a definition of BIAS, RACISM . . .

One needs to remind the author, that Assiros is not representative of Macedonia as a whole. Assiros is just a fragment of the Macedonian puzzle. There is very little doubt, that the area north of Thessaloniki had been predominantly Slavic ever since the time of the Slavic invasions (up until the the Neuilly Treaty), while the indigenous Greeks were pushed below the Verria-Serres line. That there were few Greek-speakers in the predominantly Slavophone Assiros region prior to the arrival of the Thessalians during the late 1700's, does not imply that the Greekness of Macedonia is a recent phenomenon, as she insinuates. Karakasidou is deliberately misleading the reader here! She doesn't mention anywhere in her book that in the neighboring Chalkidiki region (just 40km to the south) no Slav had ever set foot there! Most of southern Macedonia was Greek-speaking as any ethnologic map can illustrate, while Assiros fell in the northern Slavic zone. Yes, *some parts* of northern Greek Macedonia were recently Hellenized in order to homogenize the region, but the overwhelming character of Macedonia remained Greek-speaking(not just pro-Greek)throughout the centuries. Maybe she needs to re-read Brailsford more carefefully?

Where are our human rights as Hellenic makedonians who lived in the region before the 6th and 8th century?

My ancestors spoke a greek dialect and eight hundred years after our leader died, Alexander the Great, slavic and mongulian minorities are falsifying my history. I once again ask the author where are my rights?

The author's claim of a Macedonian Question, is more than a mere squabble over a name. It is a well-designed scheme for annexing the northern Greek provinces of Macedonia and Thrace. It started during the inter-war period, by the decisions of the Comintern and the Balkan communist parties seeking to establish a united (Macedonian and Thracian) State. Subsequently it was Tito, in 1944, who tried to establish such a State within Yugoslavia. He changed the name of Southern Serbia (which had been known as Vardashka since 1913) to "Macedonia" and then proceeded to establish, out of the Slavs of the region (Bulgarians and Serbs), a new Slavic nation inappropriately called "Macedonian".

To transform this theoretical concept into a political reality Tito:

Concocted in 1944 a "Macedonian government" as a first step to the setting up of a Socialist Republic of Macedonia".

Dubbed the local Slavonic dialect "Macedonian language". A special committee worked for years to turn this dialect into the "official Macedonian language".

In 1968 the "Macedonian Church" came into being irregularly, by a government coup. As a result, it was not recognized as a formal Church by any Orthodox Patriarchs or by the Vatican.

In 1969, the "History of the Macedonian nation" was published. Any reference in the world's archives to Macedonia and to historical figures and historical events connected in any way with Macedonia over the millennia, was manipulated and forcibly given a "Macedonian (Slavic) identity".

Thus, politicians and historians collaborated:

to usurp the name, the emblems, and the history of Macedonia;

to set in motion expansionist aspirations, by renaming Greek Macedonia as "Aegean Macedonia", i.e. part of a united Macedonia and issued maps limiting Greece's northern frontiers to Mount Olympus;to allege the existence of a "Macedonian minority" in Greece.

Their theoretical basis for these claims was based on the assertion that:

The ancient Macedonians, Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, etc. were not Greeks (an allegation which is repeated in the recent FYROM's school textbooks for 1992-3).

After the arrival of Slavic tribes in the Balkans in the 6th century AD those Slavs, that managed to reach the Byzantine Provinces of Ancient Macedonia, intermarried with the local non-Greek Macedonians and thus they formed a new ethnic group, the "Slavo Macedonians" who subsequently were simply referred to as "Macedonians".

Unfortunately for the author, World history does not record a similar case of usurpation of a people's name and history by another group of people.

Lack of the slightest credibility on the part of the pseudo-Macedonian "nation" of Skopje is furthermore revealed by the single fact that Skopje's Bulgarians and Serbs discovered only after 1944 that back in the sixth century they had been transformed from Slavs into Macedonians. (The Albanian Kossovarians are going to ask for their independence in the coming months. Will this uprise encourage the oppressed Albanians living in FYROM?)

To claim that the Ancient Macedonians were not Greeks, however, and to use the term "Slav" with reference to the creation of the "Macedonian nation" is a trick that the author has used.

The "Macedonian Nation" does not, nor did it ever exist. The Macedonians were Greeks, they spoke the same language and worshipped the same gods (who were inhabiting the Macedonian mountain of Olympus) and performed the same sacrifices, in the same sanctuaries as all the other Greeks. Only, if the author had a better understanding of city-states would she realise this.

The Macedonians, together with the rest of Greeks, possess according to Herodotus, the kind and constituent element that composed a nation:

"And next the kinship of all Greeks in blood and speech, and the shrines of gods and the sacrifices that we have in common and the likeness of our way of life " Herodotus, History VIII, 144,2 (Loeb, A.D. Godley).

Unfortunately, the author has re-written propaganda and has forgotten to mention that the Slavic dialect spoken in Central and Western Macedonia (Northern Greece) is an ancient Greek language. It contains 1164 Homeric words. Due to the long coexistence of Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians, this dialect has been enriched with Bulgarian words and endings and has nothing to do with the so-called "Macedonian language" invented in 1944-45, which is a mixture of the Bulgarian and the Serbo-Croatian languages.