The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics [Hardcover]

Ivo Banac (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 456 pages
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr (June 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801416752
• ISBN-13: 978-0801416750
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,059,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal work, April 5, 2000

By 

Edward Bosnar - See all my reviews

This review is from: The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics (Paperback)

This is perhaps one of the best books on thenational/nationalist problems that have beset the former Yugoslaviasince its formation after World War I. In fact, the author primarily analyzes the short period during and immediately after the establishment of Yugoslavia in 1918, his central thesis being that the overlapping nationalist ideologies and problems which appeared then were never directly addressed and continued to plague the country (all up until its disintegration in 1990 and even afterwards). "The National Question in Yugoslavia" extensively describes the nationalisms of all Yugoslav peoples, not just the Croats. Also, since the work focuses on the early 1920s, it would have been pointless to discuss the origins of the Croatian Ustasha, since this ultra-nationalist fascist movement only emerged about ten years later. In the same vein, one could criticize this book for not providing a deeper exploration of the origins of the Serbian Chetnik movement... This is definitely THE book to read if you want a better understanding of the problems and rivalries that existed in Yugoslavia and led to the violent break-up of that country twice: during World War II and at the beginning of the 1990s.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterclass in history, July 18, 2010

By 

Balkan Boy Wonder (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics (Paperback)

Banac established himself as one of the great Yugoslav historians with this book. If you don't believe me, the review extracts - by some truely big gun historians - on the back page of the paperback edition should easily convince you.

Several aspects of this book place it firmly on the top shelf. The first is Banac's mastery of sources. Footnote lovers will rejoice in the detail he offers. He seems to have an awareness of every book, every phamplet, every statistic, every obscure poem ever published in the former Yugoslavia. The second is his ability as a writer. Banac is simply a great stylist. His ability to extract from his sources - be they statistics on one page and poetry on the next - and weave them seamlessly into a gripping narrative is truely spectacular.

The book is essentially divided into two parts. The first is a long and detailed chronology of the rise of national consciousnes come national identities and ideologies amongst the Yugoslavs up till the creation of the Yugoslav state. This background sets the stage for the following disection of the newly formed state and the various political actors and ideas that it comprised.

Banac essentially sees Yugoslavia as a doomed construction and attributes its instability to the historically shaped competing national ideolgies developed by Yugoslavia's key nations. However, Banac places key culpability on the Serbian vision/s for Yugoslavia which he sees as limited, authoritarian and self defeating for both Serbs and non-Serbs.

This book smashes a popular and simple myth held outside Yugoslavia that the Serbs were pro-Yugoslav and established Yugoslavia and the Croats were pro-Austrian, anti-Serb and anti-Yugoslav. Banac gives a detailed account of how the Yugoslav idea was a child of Croatian cultural and political exhertion. This, along with generous descriptions Croat Serbopilia does not make it popular with Croatian nationalists who want to believe Yugoslavia was a cage fashioned by Serbian and British hands. Nor does the book appeal to Serb nationalists who require their nation to be the selfless creator of Yugoslavia and sole victim of its creation via ungratefull and unjustified treachery by its non-Serb population.

Banac has been accused of Croatian nationalist and anti-Serb leanings. These are accusations that must be countered. The book does give a strong Croatian perspective. In my view, this was long overdue as this perspective was both unjustly tainted and censored following the atrocities committed in the name of the puppet and so-called "Independent State of Croatia" in WWII. Banac may be too smitten by Stjepan Radic, he may not fully engage with Slobodan Jovanovic's arguement that the Croats essentially brought an obstructionist political culture into the new state but he does give the most comprehensive and critical account of far right Croatian nationalism and his burning repulsion is plainly evident - as evident as his human rights campaigns in Tudjman's Croatia and his protestation against the anti-Serb and anti-Bosnian Muslim policies of the Tudjman regime.

Anyone doubting Banac's objective credentials should be silenced by the quote from the great Serbian-American historian and author of the magnificent A History of Modern Serbia, Michael Boro Petrovich, who states that this book is the "most comprehensive, judicious and objective account of the origins, development, and politics of the Yugoslav national question up to the aftermath of World War I that exists in any language".

This book is simply a masterpiece and a must have acquisition for any student of Yugoslav history. Read it and you will not only understand the beginings of Yugoslavia - but also its demise in the 1990s.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good detail on croation political dynamics upto WW2, January 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics (Paperback)

A while since I read this book. Useful detail of croatian political dynamics dating from mid/late C19 to late 1930's. Avoids any real detail on the rise to power of the Ustashe movement. The content tries to be objective and suceeds to a certain extent.