Customer Reviews

Kosovo: The Splintering of Yugoslavia

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This fascinating book is a short, but nonetheless thorough look at the turmoil that wracked Kosovo during the 1990s. Beginning, as it must, with a quick look at the historical processes that formed the area, the book then launches into a look at the Milosevic era, the disintegration of Yugoslavia, and the war within Kosovo. Along the way, the reader is treated to many colorful pictures, and highly informative sidebars.

Now, it must be stated that this is part of the Headliners series of books, and it does appear to be drawn straight from the press accounts of the war in Kosovo. That is to say, if you followed the press during that conflict, you will not receive any information that you were not already aware of, nor will you see a different take on anything that happened during it.

But, that said, this is a wonderfully concise and highly informative look at the war in Kosovo. If you are interested in what happened in Kosovo during the 1990s, then this is an excellent place to start. I highly recommend this book.

This is, simply, a great book. And simple is the best word for it. The book doesn't skimp on facts and gives the best and most accurate overview of the history of the war in Kosovo that I have read. This book is relatively short; if you need a lot of detail I recommend "A Short History of Kosovo" by Noel Malcolm. But Malcolm's book, despite it's title, is very long and detailed. If you just want an easily read book with great photos that will leave you understanding the situation, this is it.

This book is for the naive, those who are not intellectually curious, who are perfectly happy with the ersatz of the official U.S. government sponsored propaganda, no matter how shamelessly imperialist and biased. In brief, this book is destined to indoctrinate schoolchildren and high school pupils. Ms. Andryszewski, as proves her oeuvre, is one of those hired authors writing on various social and political issues who always shows the U.S. as the Good Daddy helping the weak, the poor and the oppressed around the world. Unfortunately, the truth is to the contrary, Uncle Sam turns out to be a bully that brings much of the world's death, suffering and destruction. Not different in Yugoslavia, Kosovo and the Balkans. There Clinton's government with his Secretary of Hate, Madeleine Albright, suddenly fell in love with the most terrorist Islamic organization in Europe, the UCK (alias KLA). But Ms. Andryszewski does not mention UCK and other Albanian criminal killing, intimidation, and other sorts of discrimination directed against the Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo taking place for several centuries, and recently intensified after Tito's death. Ms. Andryszewski does not want to see this ethnic cleansing performed by Albanians as it would not be convenient as an explanation of the U.S./NATO bombing of an independent country fighting a secessionist insurgency. Neither she mentions that this bombing was contrary to all the international laws, that it broke the United Nations charter, the NATO charter and even the U.S. constitution. When she talks about genocide she does not base her opinion on facts either. So far about 2000 victims (most of them Serb soldiers and Albanian guerrillas) were found in Kosovo despite the loud trumpeting of such a genocide by U.S. corporate mass-media before the bombing. Moreover by using the word genocide she offends the real victims of genocides, such as those of the Holocaust. Clearly Ms. Andryszewski's sympathies are on the Albanian side. When she talks about the past history of Kosovo, she places the ancient presence of both nations on more or less equal grounds. She forgets that all the historical artifacts, architecture, cemeteries, churches, art, literature and archeological excavations show and prove only the presence of the Serbs, not of the Albanians. When Ms. Andryszewski talks about the situation in Kosovo and Yugoslavia during World War II, she mostly omits the criminal collaboration of Albanians with the Nazis (for ex. the infamous SS Waffen Skanderbeg division) and their active participation in extermination of Serbs. When talking about the break-up of Yugoslavia, Ms. Andryszewski does not want to look to the roots of that development, to U.S./German sponsorship of secessionist forces, to CIA and U.S. mercenaries training of insurgents, to U.S. greenbacks and weapons constantly flowing to those forces. The Racak massacre as described in the book is blamed on the Serbs. Ms. Andryszewski does not mention the facts that put in doubt such a conclusion, that the KLA tampered with the bodies, that it was likely that the KLA staged the massacre. The Rambouillet negotiations fiasco is again the fault of much demonized Milosevic. She forgets to mention that the a priori prepared agreement contained a secret military annex demanding an occupation of whole Yugoslavia by U.S/NATO forces and in fact was an ultimatum or a new "Munich" that only traitors could sign. Ms. Andryszewski does not make a big deal out of U.S./NATO "collateral damage" (as expressed by NATO's Goebbels - Jamie Shea), i.e. of hundreds of civilians killed, of destroyed houses, hospitals, schools, churches, cemetaries, factories, TV station, bridges, trains, buses, cars, of polluted by depleted uranium and cluster bombs environment. I guess, the new master race is in its rights to kill those insects - Slavs. She is very optimistic about the present and the future despite the ongoing facts. The ethnic cleansing and murder of Kosovar minorities under the protection of KFOR proceeds unimpeded.

Ms. Andryszewski's book is a distortive and manipulative piece of propaganda trying to justify criminal actions of her government. AVOID THIS BOOK, find the truth youself!

I have lived in Kosovo for the past 2.5 years, and during this time I have done a great deal of research on the history of Kosovo, the conflicts between the Serbs and the Albanians, what led to this war, the affects of it on people from both sides, etc. I have lived and worked among the Albanians, helping them rebuild completely destroyed homes and lives, but I have also been to many intact Serbian monasteries in Kosovo, and prayed with Serbian Orthodox Christians in their churches. I came to Kosovo immediately following the war in 1999 and saw firsthand the immense physical and emotional devastation caused by this war. I say all of this only to qualify my opinion because it is very different from the other review of this book.

I thought this book was excellent, and that it acurately explained the situations, not only in Kosovo, but also in Bosnia and Croatia, that led to the many wars the Balkans have experienced in the last few years. I found the book to be extremely unbiased. It is a very quick read and therefore somewhat limited in scope, so I would recommend Noel Malcolm's "Short History of Kosovo" for anyone seeking greater depth.

Obviously, what happened in the Balkans is a very sensitive topic for many people. But if you are looking for an short but accurate portrayal of the war in Kosovo, I highly recommend this book.