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Burn This House

The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia

Book

Pages: 400

Illustrations: 14 b&w photographs

Published: October 2000

Editors: Jasminka Udovicki, James Ridgeway

Subjects
European Studies > Eastern Europe and Russia, History > World History, Politics > International Relations

With Muslim, Croatian, and Serbian journalists and historians as contributors, Burn This House portrays the chain of events that led to the recent wars in the heart of Europe. Comprised of critical, nonnationalist voices from the former Yugoslavia, this volume elucidates the Balkan tragedy while directing attention toward the antiwar movement and the work of the independent media that have largely been ignored by the U.S. press. Updated since its first publication in 1997, this expanded edition, more relevant than ever, includes material on new developments in Kosovo.
The contributors show that, contrary to descriptions by the Western media, the roots of the warring lie not in ancient Balkan hatreds but rather in a specific set of sociopolitical circumstances that occurred after the death of Tito and culminated at the end of the Cold War. In bringing together these essays, Serbian-born sociologist Jasminka Udovicki and Village Voice Washington correspondent James Ridgeway provide essential historical background for understanding the turmoil in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo and expose the catalytic role played by the propaganda of a powerful few on all sides of what eventually became labeled an ethnic dispute.
Burn This House offers a poignant, informative, and fully up-to-date explication of the continuing Balkan tragedy.

Contributors. Sven Balas, Milan Milosevi´c Branka Prpa-Jovanovi´c, James Ridgeway, Stipe Sikavica, Ejub Stitkovac, Mirko Tepavac, Ivan Torov, Jasminka Udovicki, Susan Woodward

Praise

“[A] solid collection of articles for non-specialists. . . .” - Julia Mitric , Slavic and East European Journal

“A superb collection. . . . The courage, vigour and fair-mindedness which have survived in so many Yugoslavs through years of war and hysterical propaganda are all on display in Burn This House, by far the best book on the conflict that I have read so far. . . . True to its subtitle, this book gives a masterly account of the making as well as the unmaking of Yugoslavia. . . .” - Richard West, TLS

“The early chapters make the impossibly dense history of the Balkan peninsula clear at last, while fresh insights abound about Yugoslavia’s birth ‘in the chaos and blood of World War I’ and about the Tito regime during and following World II. . . . By the time we get inside the present-day Balkans, we’ve learned how to see past the nationalistic slogans of politically controlled media and into the kind of ethnic cleansing only those who live there can adequately describe. . . . [Y]ou’ll know why this war is never going to be ‘over.’ ” - , Holt Uncensored

“Udovicki and Ridgeway refuse to view the Yugoslavian conflict solely through the lens of ethnic hatred. They have collected local and international perspectives on a range of topics—media wars, the strange role of Tudjman, resistance in Serbia—that culminate in a complex portrait of the economic and political crisis that triggered the war.” - , Village Voice

“Where Burn this House excels is in presenting a rare depth and breadth of approach in a single volume.” - James Frusetta , Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

“This glorious and expertly edited, collaborative volume is one of the best guides to understanding the Yugoslav war of 1991–1995, providing readable historical background and balanced analyses of the war.” - Sabrina P. Ramet, HMJ School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle