Balkan Ghosts

Robert D. Kaplan

Straight up - I've never been that interested in the Balkans. I know that they're in south-eastern Europe, that there've been a lot of nasty things going on down there lately, and that the First World War all started because some loony offed some Austrian big knob in Sarajevo.

All the more surprising then that I found this book an absolute killer. Not just interesting, not just informative, not just almost intellectual in its presentation, but dang near unputdownable. It's not a history text, nor is it a travelogue; it is, as the sub-title indicates, 'a journey through history'. The author travels the length and breadth of the area, relating his experiences to what has gone before, and demonstrating yet again that we can only understand the present by understanding the past.

And what a past it is: wars, invasions, massacres, genocide, rape, pillage, ethnic cleansing, forced migrations, coups, uprisings, bribery, corruption, terrorism, assassinations... you name it, the Balkans have been there, seen it and bought a couple of dozen t-shirts.

I could enthuse at length about BALKAN GHOSTS, but I won't. Just go and read it for yourself. Mr Kaplan is an educated man, and makes few concessions to his readers, but his literary, intelligent and thoughtful opus is one of my reads of 2000.

Oh, and I now know why they're called the Balkans (but I'm not going to tell you. Ha!)