Customer Reviews

Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book fails both as a history or analysis of Yugoslav politics or as a critical biography of Tito. The first few chapters, which contain an overly compressed "historical" review of the South Slavs from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, contain factual, spelling and interpretative errors so obtrusive and atrocious that they are almost laughable. For example, West claims that the leader of the 1573 Croat peasant revolt was "Donja Stubica" - that was actually the name of the village in which it started. He claims that in 1871 the Croat revolutionary Eugen Kvaternik led an "armed assault on the Serbs," when in fact Kvaternik launched a foolishly bold uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy while many of his fellow rebels were themselves Serbs. He persistently misspells the surname of the great Serbian linguist and writer Vuk Karadzic as `Karadjic' - and there are literally dozens of similar mistakes that riddle the entire text. West basically argues that the problems in Yugoslavia are directly tied to historical events and religious schisms that occurred during the Middle Ages, and reduces the wars which ensued after Yugoslavia's collapse to religious conflicts. He also insists that there are no national nor even ethnic differences between the Serbs, Croats or Bosnian Muslims; rather, he says they are all the same ethnic group with three different religions, thus demonstrating his glaring ignorance of the differences between `nation' and `ethnicity,' among other things. He focuses extensive attention and invective, perhaps rightfully, to the WW2 Croatian Ustasha regime and the often scurrilous role of the Croatian Catholic Church during this period. On the other hand, he downplays or denies the much less extensive but often quite brutal crimes of the Serbian Chetniks during the same period - even to the point of making the ludicrous claim that the Serbian Orthodox Church was "never clearly associated with Great Serb nationalism or with the Chetniks." One of the main flaws of this book is that its primary focus is on World War II - the implication being that this period crucially influenced events in the 1990s. This is only true to a certain extent, but oversimplifies and greatly downplays the even more vital 40+ ensuing years. In fact, at times this book rather eerily resembles texts often seen in Croatian and Serbian newspapers during the late 1980s and early 1990s which speak of events from 50, 150 or even 500 years ago as though they happened yesterday. West's ignorance and lack of objectivity also leads him to (rather outrageously) twice refer to the Kosovo Albanians as `Shiptars' - among non-Albanians, this is a racial epithet, not a neutral descriptive term. Tito, the central figure in this book, fares little better. Although West has a nostalgically favorable view of Tito, he offers no new insights into Yugoslavia's long-time president and strongman, only the reworded observations and conclusions from other biographies, memoirs and histories, both favorable and critical. Often he provides details on completely trivial matters from Tito's life, at one point even citing actor Richard Burton's impressions of Tito and his wife. Aside from a few mildly engaging anecdotes taken from his own travels in Yugoslavia, there is little of interest here. Reading West's book is a colossal waste of time; my recommendation is for readers to check it out of a library, peruse the photographs and then go straight to the bibliography to find more worthwhile books to read on Tito, WW2 and the Ustasha terror and the former Yugoslavia in general.

A good read! This book is well-researched and contains information that everyone and their brother and sister should read. This man knows Yugoslavia, knows the history of the country, and demonstrates that the world had done nothing toward solving the "nationalities" problem after the fall of Nazi Germany, when a reconciliation was possible. The author demonstrates how the world stood by and allowed the Ustasha to highjack planes, to blow them up in mid-air, to run rampant with their terrorist ideals while the Communists were in power, even going so far as to give them the places to train their terrorist soldiers. While the author condemns Tito for not confronting the problem in Yugoslavia and dealing with it while he was in power, the author also condemns the rest of the world for their complicity to the crime.

This is really a book about Yugoslavia, skillfully interwoven with a history of the major character during the 20th century; Tito.

Very readable, a real page-turner considering it's a history book. Also very informative about the underlying tensions of the Yugoslav region. If you're interested in some background on the current crisis in Bosnia etc. this is a great book to read.

I've racked my brains and the only benevolent dictator I could come up with was Yugoslavia's Marshal Josip Broz Tito. Richard West writes a favourable, even-handed, and comprehensible account of Tito, who ruled Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1980. He even provides a background to the South Slavs before talking about Tito, because it is important to understand the dynamics going on under the Ottoman Empire and later the Balkan absorption by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1878.

Tito, a Croat, was indeed born during an interesting period, when tensions were growing in Europe between the two alliance blocs, the Entente and Central Powers. He had his brush with Pan-Slavism, as he went to help the Czechs and Slovaks during his military service.

West also takes time to talk about the Independent State of Croatia, the fascist puppet state under Ante Pavelic, the mastermind of Yugoslavian King Alexander's assassination in 1934. That regime was brutal, as Serbs were butchered, bombed while in worship, and hurled off cliffs. Even the Franciscan priests participated in the killing.

Tito's wartime exploits make interesting reading, as he was besieged from all sides, by Germans, Italians, the Ustasha (Croatian fascists), and monarchist Serbs under Draza Mihailovic. It didn't help matters that the Allies saw Mihailovic as the more viable threat against the Germans. Only when Churchill got information from the code-breaking Ultra did he realize that Tito was the greater danger against the Nazis and hence recognized that they had better give Tito higher priority.

His own brand of Communism, Titoism, was freer than Soviet Russia, Maoist China, or Hoxha's Albania, but also tried to make the various nationalities live together in collective brotherhood. That hope would turn out to be unrealistic, but he did try to clamp down on nationalism. True, he did jail some opponents and nationalists, such as future Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, but he didn't carry out large scale massacres like Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. He was one of two "good Communists" in the eyes of the West, the other one being Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania.

His role as one of the leaders of the non-aligned third bloc, along with India's Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser holds relevance today. 11 Sept has made non-alignment a non-option. Unfortunately I haven't seen any countries who have made a firm stance of neutrality.

This book was written before the outbreak of the war in Bosnia despite its publication in 1994. In light of what happened in Bosnia and Kosovo, critics might tear into Tito for keeping the genie of nationalism firmly stoppered. It was a little after a decade when Yugoslavia disintegrated. Like leaders such as Charlemagne and Louis XIV, his death left a leadership vacuum that led to political fragmentation.

Richard West's book on Tito is more than anything, a study of the relationships among the inhabitants of eastern europe rather than a biography. Nevertheless, the book is well written, informative and at many times entertaining. It is crucial to understand the history of the area known to many as the powder keg of europe in order to learn about Tito. West does a good job of depicting the complicated relation between not only Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, etc. but even more importantly - the Muslims, Catholics, Christians, etc. I am glad that West was so staunch in his disapproval of the Ustasha - whose methods repulsed even the Nazis. However, he seems to be one-sided in the sense that Serb extremist atrocities are rarely mentioned and not as detailed. The struggles of Eastern Europes does not have good or bad guys. Both Serb and Croat extremists have performed horrendous acts on their own people and will have to look back on their history with deep sorrow and regret. To be fair, both sides have also had many strong character leaders attempt to end the violence. Many of which paid with their lives. Tito was the only person to unite the region. I wish West had even more access to Tito to provide a better picture but I guess there are other books that are more precise. In the end, the first 3/4 of the book are solid but the last section regarding the state of the Balkans after Tito seems rushed and is rather forgetable.

During the recent troubles in former Yugoslavia we learned to hate the Serbs for their policy of ethnic cleansing. But this book explains that the Serbs had ample reason for their hatred of the Croats and for their desire to turn the tables on their former tormenters. The one ray of hope is that many Yugoslavs live in peace with their neighbors and intermarry regardless of ethnicity or religion, not obsessed with prolonging the hatred.

The atrocities against humanity committed by the Croats against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies (500,000 murdered) were more sadistic and horrifying than anything since. The evil Ustasha, the terrorist arm of the Croats, specialized in sadistic torture prior to murder, all in the name of religion.

I picked this book up to learn about Marshall Tito, the fascinating political figure who successfully resisted both Hitler and Stalin, and who kept the tinderbox of Yugoslavia at peace throughout his life. Tito must have been an amazing man. And he didn't do it with terror. It is incredible how he maintained independence in that part of the world surrounded by such aggressive nations. The Tito period was a time of prosperity for Yugoslavia, making even their Italian neighbors envious.

This is an excellent history of Yugoslavia over the past critical fifty years, and sheds light on the roots of Yugoslavia's violent breakup in the 1990's. Reading this book will give insight into the sinister nature of the communist dictator Tito, who like Ceaucescu of Romania was one of the Western powers' favored, "good" communist despots. The chapters on Tito's rise to power during World War 2 and subsequent years of control will let readers in on the reasons for the 1990's Yugoslavian wars. Well worth the cover price.

This book contains absolutely one of the best explanations of the current Balkan fiasco. While dwelling on Tito, West also explains the ethnic disputes that have torn apart Yugoslavia. West's coverage of the Ustasha is particularly accurate and enlightening.

First of all, forgive me for saying 'captivating' in the title. Though it has a feminine connotation, I mean it in the truly hypnotic definition.

Second, this book was hard to put down. I didn't expect it and being a student of history (I love historic books and biographies), I found this one very impressive.

You might feel a bit like you're on a cruise, with smooth, calm, boring waters at points but it doesn't disappoint with storms on the horizon. I never realized how much history Yugoslavia contained.

Some might comment regarding the names of towns or mistakes in dates but this book gives background to three things:
1. The rise of the conflicts in the region
2. The rise of Tito in during his time
3. The lead-up to the war of 1990's

At times there seems to be a bias for one side or another, but the bias isn't consistent and the author has mentioned it in his introduction from what I remember.

I couldn't put this book down, and enjoyed it. You do get a bit of the authors paradigms at times but this doesn't diminish the quality of content, and this paradigm probably helped him deal with all the research he's done.

Mr. West depicts the legendary marshall in a powerful and distinct manner, pointing out throughout most of his book that the unity and stability of Yugoslavia after WWII stemmed from Tito's forward-looking political philosophy, putting aside the wanton carnage of Ustasha and Cetnik militias and focusing in the rebuilding of a nation surrounded by suspicion and devastation.

By overcoming Churchill's Machiavelian realpolitik and Stalin's carnivorous vacuum filler, Tito galvanized a Communist nation into unparalleled prosperity and experimented on a system without precedents. Truly, his death catapulted the land of Southern Slavs into the demise and bloodshed of the 1990s, Yugoslavia lacking leaders with character, vision and charisma to resume his political -if not economic - masterpiece. A book well-written and well-researched recommended for the historian and current affairs hound alike.