Until very recently I knew very little about the people of Bulgaria. Thus, I cannot draw on past experience or knowledge of Bulgaria in reviewing this book. However, after reading, and using, "Bulgarian Rhapsody: The Best of Balkan Cuisine", I feel better prepared to meet and understand the people of Bulgaria. This Autumn, I will have that opportunity, along with a mission team of 35 people.

In order to make our entire church feel a part of our "mission", the team sponsored a Bulgarian dinner. Seeing as no one had either been to Bulgaria nor ever sampled Bulgarian cuisine prior to this endeavor, we were all a bit nervous. I supplied recipes from Linda J. Forristal's book to about 15 people. Combined, we prepared nearly half of the recipes from the book and had the most incredible "spread" you could imagine!

The recipes are generally simple, and entirely delicious, and most require foods found regularly at most grocery stores (even in a secluded town of 17,000). We were pleasantly surprised that our mid-western USA tastebuds rejoiced so fully in these "new" foods. We all agreed that although we each had our favorites, there was nothing we didn't enjoy!

It is important to note that the author herself acknowledges a lack of use of certain widespread Bulgarian ingredients, in the recipes she has adapted. Food stuffs such as organs and even lamb, are not to be found in this book. For me, that is fine. For complete authenticity, however, those ommissions must be noted.

I understand that duplicating Bulgarian recipes is not an easy task, but according to a young woman I recently met, this book comes pretty darn close! This woman has recently returned from 6 years in Bulgaria. She told me that she, too, had this book, "Bulgarian Rhapsody..." and that she cried when she first saw the recipes for foods she had fallen "in love" with!

The recipes, as well as the sprinkling of folklore, culture, and history, make this book a definite countertop mainstay in my kitchen!

"Mother Linda's Bulgarian Cooking BULGARIAN RHAPSODY" is among the very few cookbooks published in English about Bulgarian cuisine. The author, Linda Forristal, visited Bulgaria on several occasions since 1990. During her stays in Bulgaria she observed her friends cooking and collected many recipes. Majority of the recipes in the book are authentic Bulgarian (like "tikvenik", "lyuteniza," etc.). There are some recipes, which are imported from Western cuisine, but are favorites in every Bulgarian house (like "Garash cake"). In addition to common recipes, the book includes chapters on Bulgarian holiday cooking and Bulgarian-Jewish cooking. Thus, book represents pretty much the contemporary trends in the Bulgarian cuisine.

The book benefits very much from the rich and tastefully chosen illustrations and design. The reader will find in it fine color pictures of Bulgarian dishes, embroidery, national costumes, dances, architectural monuments.

Valuable additions to the book are Bulgarian proverbs, explanations of cooking techniques and customs which are inserted in appropriate places. Special place is devoted to such unique Bulgarian holidays as March 1st (day of the "Marteniza") and May 24 (the day of the Bulgarian culture). List of UNESCO supported historical and architectural monuments in Bulgaria could be found at the end of the book.

Linda Forristal's love to Bulgaria, its culture and people helped her create a unique book. It is much more than a cookbook: it is a book for Bulgarian style of life. I would rank it as one of the best books about Bulgaria and its cuisine published in recent years.

This entertaining and informative cookbook is an excellent introduction to a cuisine that few Americans are familiar with. Forristal not only introduces the reader to the foods of Bulgaria, but also to the history, geography, people, and culture of this Eastern European country. If you like Greek or Turkish food, you'll also like the dishes featured in this cookbook. Forristal's selection of more than 100 recipes reflects her own preference for light, healthy--yet authentic--Bulgarian dishes that can be prepared easily in American kitchens. The emphasis is on vegetarian foods, but there are also several recipes for dishes made with meats. Separate chapters focus on traditional Bulgarian breads and desserts. The author tells you how to make your own phyllo dough for flaky pastries, how to make pita bread in the shape of a sunflower, and how to make a pudding that, according to legend, contains all the foods left on Noah's ark when it landed on Mt. Ararat. Another section on "Ceremonies and Celebrations" provides menus and recipes for a Bulgarian Christmas Eve dinner, a Bulgarian Jewish dinner, a traditional barbecue, and even a low-fat feast. Printed on high-quality paper, this cookbook contains many color photographs illustrating the recipes. Throughout the book you'll find Bulgarian proverbs, tips from Bulgarian cooks, short folk tales, and descriptions of Bulgarian customs and holidays. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Balkan cuisines in particular, international foods in general, or just healthy, tasty, home-style dishes that can be easily prepared from readily available ingredients.

When fighting in Kosovo began breaking out and hitting news tabloids in mid-1998, the problem was that few people knew about this region's history, let alone its location on the globe. No one could quite understand the motives of Serbs and Albanians, who were at odds with each other. When NATO began bombing rump Yugoslavia for its conduct against Kosovo Albanian civilians, uncritical (and heavily biased) media reports and press coverage were the only source of information that one could turn to for background. While this may have been better than nothing, this information was far from providing a critical and satisfactory explanation and understanding. This was the case, until Tim Judah wrote his second book, the current one now under review.

Judah is a Balkan expert, who speaks numerous languages (including Serbo-Croatian and Albanian) and has written several articles for many newspapers and magazines throughout the world. His previous book ("The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia" [New Haven, 1997 and 2000]) put the Bosnian war into its proper context, while the current puts Kosovo into its respective context. The first chapter is a short, condensed history of Kosovo leading up to the end of the Second World War, while the next sizable portion of the book details key events and personalities throughout the 1980s and 1990s that shaped modern-day Kosovo and unwittingly turned it toward a war-path. Judah discusses the outbreaks of violence in late 1997, the failed efforts of Western diplomats in stopping the bloodshed, a critical and thrilling chapter chronicling the failed Rambouillet peace accords in February 1999, a chapter chronicling NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, and the aftermath of Kosovo's tragic conflict: vengeful Albanians returning home and killing Serbs and Roma.

Integral to Judah's work is his assessment of NATO's conduct in the conflict. His thesis is that the entire war was one of "human error," where Western diplomats foolishly believed that they could make Serbia's Milosevic back down within one week. Milosevic, on the other hand, believed NATO to be bluffing and took the alleged bluff. Tensions mounted within the NATO alliance, other world superpowers (in the military sense, aka. Russia and China) began bracing themselves for toil with the US, while Albanian and Serb civilians were either massacred or blown up by NATO's firepower. Totally unprepared of what to expect, NATO carried out blunder after blunder, failed to stop massacres in Kosovo and perhaps made the Balkans even more tense and unstable than before.

It is imperative that readers consult Judah's work for every meticulous detail surrounding Kosovo's recent history. Readers should consult other recent works in understanding Kosovo's ancient past to determine if Serbs really have rightful historical claims to the province, for Judah's first chapter is merely a primer. Of course, there are those critics out there that will cite, as I mentioned in another review, that Judah is not a "professional historian." It is likely that his knowledge, experience and excellent writing style makes his book more valuable and a much better, thrilling and informative read than the work of any academic.

No matter how much graphic TV footage we saw and how many acres of newsprint we read on the Kosovo crisis, nothing gave us enough information about what was really going on. As with any war situation, information was often unavoidably contradictory and confused, tainted with propaganda. Politicians and historians and revisionists will probably mull over the recent events in Kosovo for years before presenting their views.

In the meantime we have war correspondents cranking up the pace with instant records. While the accounts of war journalists lack the historical perspective that can only occur over time, their freshness and immediacy can be electrifying and there is still opportunity for analysis.

Tim Judah's book is a fine example of what can be achieved. This is not a hasty account. Judah presents a surprisingly fair overview of the Kosovo crisis, which he has rigorously researched with exhaustive notes.

Judah fleshes out the major players from the 12th century to the 20th. He traces Kosovo's troubled history back to the Field of the Blackbirds in 1389 when the Serbian Prince Lazar and the Ottoman Sultan Murad faced off becaused Lazar refused to submit to Ottoman rule. Lazar and Murad died, the Serbs lost the battle. Orthodox Christians and Muslims co-existed uneasily for over 600 years, but Judah's details for much of that time are sketchy. Anyway, we get the picture: that's a long time to hone a grudge and perfect the most savage methods of revenge. He has more information about the history of Balkan bloodshed in the 20th century.

Fast forward to 1999 where Judah examines the polarisation of the murderous Milsosovic regime as the Kosovo crisis unfolds, he gives frontline reports of atrocities, details the burgeoning humanitarian disaster and the intense machinations behind the scenes as the crisis unfolded.

His account of the how the Kosovo Albanian and Serbian delegations, NATO and international peacemakers confronted each other over cheese and claret in a chateau in Rambouillet is as astute as it is entertaining. Judah dispells propaganda on all sides. There was also a lot of background about the formation of the KLA I had known nothing about.

He is contemptuous of experts in far away places passing judgment on the tragic events that unfolded, a viewpoint fairly typical of reporters in the field

Judah's objectivity has allowed for clarity - the hallmark of a great journalist. And this certainly is a great read by a journalist with formidable research skills and meticulous attention to detail.

A book for those who were watching one of the biggest scenes of crime at the end of the 20th century from the TV screens. To try to learn and understand the complexity of the problem which layed "down there" for decades and nobody wasn't interested to solve it until the mass killing came to the scene. To understand the importance of the issue and to justify the right NATO air war. And, Tim has done a great job. He uses real people to tell their stories, politicans and the independent historic facts. Well writen, too. Read it.

Dreams flow into Istanbul from all corners of the Ottoman Empire to be sorted, interpreted, stored, or acted upon by an enormous bureaucracy of faceless figures. Wheels operate within wheels: nobody really knows what is going on except a few puppet-masters at the top. The innocent scion of a high, powerful family begins work in the Tabir Sarrail, that cavernous palace of endless blank corridors which, like Dr. Who's Tardis, is much bigger inside than out. Sinister goings on, always just out of sight, almost out of earshot. Mark-Alem learns as he goes. His meteoric rise may have ominous significance. Maybe not. He has to make sense out of the senseless. He has to give meaning to the meaningless. Interpretation is everything, but a wrong twist could lead to fatal disaster. Are his fellow workers in on some dark secrets that he has failed to decipher ? Or are they just as they seem, friendly and struggling ? The world of power dazzles and depresses simultaneously.

When is Ismail Kadare going to get the Nobel Prize ? I have asked this before. THE PALACE OF DREAMS is yet another masterpiece by this Albanian author. It has links to 'The Three-Arched Bridge', another of his great novels. While the tenor of THE PALACE OF DREAMS is entirely different from the latter work, they do the share the enviable quality of operating on several levels, which to my mind, always indicates the highest craftsmanship. The present volume resembles Kafka more than a little, perhaps also is reminiscent of Sartre's play 'No Exit'. At one level it is such a nightmarish fantasy, a bad dream played out in a couple hundred pages. At a second level, Kadare succeeded in writing a magnificent replica of the workings of secret security agencies within the administration of Communist era nations like Albania. Part terror, part nightmare, he sets his story in the 19th century Ottoman empire to avoid personal repercussions (the book was banned in Albania anyway). 'Anyone who ruled over the dark zones of men's lives wielded enormous power.' Dream Palace or Sigurimi, the Albanian security agency ? It does not matter. By linking the protagonist to the Quprili family, a genuine Albanian-born dynasty of Ottoman officials and administrators, and to the recital of Albanian folk epics, Kadare ties the dream palace to actual history in a very clever way. The voice of the people must eventually be heard--it is only a question of when. This is a most clever book and Kadare fans should not miss it. If you haven't started reading him yet, you could well begin here.

This book is a testimony to the imposition of power on people - in this case, the controlling (and crushing) of potentially rebellious dreams against the State. Kadare does a good job of creating the tension that reverberates throughout the book. I was gripped with suspense and fear everytime Mark-Alem walked in silence through the dark, creepy corridors that stretched for miles on end. That really gave me the chills. Kadare also has a good grasp of his words. The interpretation of the book (originally in French) is superb - very easy to read, and manages to deliver the story in good style. The story is engaging, and it draws you into the world of the Tabir Sarrail, where reality and dreams are indistinguishable. It makes you want to finish the book in one sitting.

This is a small masterpiece of a book. "The Palace of Dreams" is the place where the dreams and nightmares of all the citizens of the Ottoman Empire are obsessively examined by experts, looking for omens and potential threats to the state. This is the premise of this provocative, hallucinating voyage into the absurdity and ultimate terror of totalitarian power. "The Palace of Dreams" is a powerful examination of fear and of the way it eventually turns a man's soul into stone, into another lifeless fragment of a monstrous sacrificial stone. A sinister allegory. A unique book. Don't miss it.

This was the best textbook I ever had and the course on Balkan history taught by Charles Jelavich at Indiana University, with this book, was the best I ever took. Unfortunately I lost my copy years ago. Now that the Mideast is once again a mess, I turned to look for a copy. I am happy to see it back in print, just sorry the price is so ridiculously high. The book is priceless, but to be contrary this price is too high. The paperback is worth it.

This is an indispensable resource for any one interested in Balkan History. It's a comprehensive and wide resource that takes you through the political, economic, and social history of the Balkans, organized by modern state with chapters from each time period on political developments and the Ottoman Empire as a whole. A special focus on ethnic and national issues makes it more than relevant today, despite its age.

The book by prof.Stavrianos was the last one I had on my list of books on the Balkans that I had planned to read as background material for my own work on the economies of the EU Candidate Countries, and especially of course the Southeastern ones (the other books were by Glenny, Hodos, Obolensky, Kaplan). It was also the thickest one at 850 pages but I must say it was a pleasure to read. The set-up by theme and by individual country is always clear, and there is a richness of detail and at the same time a broad sweep that gives a very good overview. This is indeed what makes this book an exellent and impressive reference work, as the other reviewers also indicated and with which i can only concur. This richness also sometimes made me skip a few pages as I was not interested in every detail but this is not a criticism per se; there will be something in this book for all interested in the Balkans without necessarily wanting to take note of all the information that is there.

For me as an economist, what the author makes clear and what struck me in particular was how the combination of economic (agricultural, industrial, financial, infrastructural) underdevelopment and social and political problems (health, education, ethnic and reliious) that are still present today in many of these countries, have been part of their history for centuries. This does not mean they are immutable (and becoming an EU Member is the best way to break this deadlock, I am convinced) but it shows how deep a legacy needs to be overcome. So for this insight already for me the book was well worth reading. In combination with M. Glenny who provides a modern history of the period 1800-1990s there is of course some overlap but I can recommend to have them both (Glenny is perhaps more lively written). Stavrianos will stand as the reference work by which others are measured.

An excellent addition to the literature on Yugoslav and Serbian history. A must for anyone who would like to learn more about the region. Concise and easy to read. The entries on events and important individulas and institutions have not been burdened by the subjective interpretations and judgements. Highly recommended reading for general public and Yugoslav scholars.

Finally, we have a comprehensive and coherent masterwork on Yugoslavia from a Balkan expert and an IPE scholar. The post-Cold War literature on international relations of Yugoslavia's demise, in its substance and method, for the most part, has not discriminated between truth and opinion. It has not discriminated between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what is only a subjective judgment, separated from the facts, unrealistic, and informed by prejudice.

Information and knowledge about the Balkans, Yugoslavia, and Serbia,have often been created and disseminated through uncorroborated reports and teleological research prone to errors: accepting a (policy) claim when it was false, rejecting it when it was true, or solving the wrong problem instead of the right one. Serious readers, scholars, and policy makers engaged in the Balkan affairs and U.S. foreign policy, therefore, should pose several questions:

(1) has the so-called "advocacy journalism" based on the reports from conflict stakeholders -- past, current, or prospective clients and proxies provided information or disinformation?

(2) has the "advocacy journalism" cultivated (a) ignorance and cognitive closure about causal links and their effects; (b) stirred input/output discrepancies that led to cognitive dissonance and suppression of reasoned judgment; or has it enhanced our understanding of causes and consequences of internal conflicts and interstate wars?

(3) have we improved our learning skills, and advanced our knowledge with briefings, statements, and judgments provided by bureaucrats, staff members, and policy makers in a ministry or agency?

Answers to these questions suggest that research and management of international affairs, so far, have been adverse for the study of history and policy. We have discovered fallacies and errors in the intelligence process and planning ex postfacto. We have had to contend with policy advocacy and policy application that stem from these fallacies and errors. Serious and much needed research to discourage the use of fallacies and to avoid costly conceptual and policy errors,so far, has been insufficient and inadequate.

Suster's "Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" in the English-speaking world has long been overdue. Since the end of the Cold War, the public was satiated with the literature on ethnic and regional conflict. This literature, with few exceptions, lacked the precision and depth required for serious social research. Academic and policy discourse has been in need of a discriminate and balanced evidence and inference. We make history and theory synthesis possible through this intellectual production of discriminate and balanced evidence and inference.

Zeljan Suster's book fills the large factual and analytical gap that exists in the contemporary literature on Yugoslavia. Besides the comprehensive lexicon of the names, events, and processes, the book's introductory chapter provides a concise but inclusive analytical background for the main period covered in the book. This analysis is refreshing and stimulating. It makes prospects for serious research on this and similar topics important and feasible. The "Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" is a standard reference for scholars, students, and policy makers.

S. B. M. Pesic, University of Pittsburgh

Finally, a comprehensive and coherent volume on Yugoslavia from a Balkan expert and an IPE scholar. The post-Cold War literature on international relations of Yugoslavia's demise, in its substance and method, for the most part, has not discriminated between truth and opinion -- between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what is only a subjective judgment, separated from the facts, unrealistic, and informed by prejudice.

Regrettably, information and knowledge about Serbia, Yugoslavia, and the Balkans have often been created and distributed by media generated and / or by media forwarded pictures, reports, and commentaries. This type of evidence has largely been based on leaks from known and unknown sources. Therefore serious readers, scholars, and policy makers engaged in the Balkan affairs and U.S. foreign policy should pose several questions.

(1) Has the so-called "advocacy journalism" based on the reports from conflict stakeholders -- past, current, or prospective clients and proxies -- provided information or disinformation?

(2) Has the advocacy journalism cultivated (a) ignorance and cognitive closure about causal links and their effects; (b) stirred input-output discrepancies that led to cognitive dissonance and suppression of reasoned judgment; or (c) has it enhanced our understanding of causes and consequences of internal conflicts and interstate wars?

(3) Have we improved our learning skills, and advanced our knowledge with briefings, statements, and judgments provided by bureaucrats, staff members, and policy makers in a ministry or agency?

Answers to these questions and the outcome of such a research and management of international affairs have been adverse for history, theory, and policy. We have discovered ex ante and the ex postfacto fallacies and errors in the intelligence process, and planning. We have had to contend with policy advocacy and implementation that stem from these fallacies and errors. Serious and much needed research to discourage the use of fallacies and to avoid costly conceptual and policy errors, so far has been insufficient and inadequate.

Suster's Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the English-speaking world has long been overdue. Since the end of the Cold War, the public was satiated with the literature on ethnic and regional conflict. This literature, with few exceptions, lacked the precision and depth required for serious social research. Academic and policy discourse has been in need of a discriminate and balanced evidence and inference. We make history and theory synthesis possible through this intellectual production of discriminate and balanced evidence and inference.

Zeljan Suster's book fills the large factual and analytical gap that exists in the contemporary literature on Yugoslavia. Besides the comprehensive lexicon of the names, events, and processes, the book's introductory chapter provides a concise but inclusive analytical background for the main period covered in the book. This analysis is refreshing and stimulating. It makes prospects for serious research on this and similar topics important and feasible. The Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should be a standard reference for scholars, students, and policy makers.

Boban S. M. Pesic, University of Pittsburgh

So, Slobodan Milosevic has been toppled.. Guess that means all will now be peaceful in Kosovo!

Well, no, actually..and this book will tell you why.

Written just before NATO's 1999 air campaign over Kosovo, Julie Mertus illuminates the process by which trust between Serbs and Kosovars became impossible. It hints at Phillip Gourevitch's reflection that "power comes when you convince your enemy to inhabit YOUR version of HIS story".

That struggle, each wanting the "correct" version of history to stand, lies at the heart of all Balkan conflicts of the last ten years.

Through innumerable interviews with the ordinary people of Kosovo, Serbian and Albanian, Julie Mertus reveals how competing myths came to be, and how they then contributed to an environment where terrorism and atrocity became - ultimately - a logical choice.

She does not go back to the mythology surrounding the 1389 defeat of the Serbian Prince Lazar at Kosovo Polje - the rallying point for Milosevic. (Covered already in Noel Malcolm's "Kosovo: A Short History). Mertus shows how events within our generation created defining national stories.

Two quick examples.

In 1990, thousands of schoolchildren fell ill. The ethnic Albanian understanding: they were deliberately poisoned, probably with Sarin gas, by Serbian authorities. It was proof of the evil Serbs would be willing to do to Albanians. The UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army) recruited youths with the argument that without resistance, they would all be poisoned again.

The Serb response to the same event was that it was mass hysteria at best, or at worst a deliberate plot by ethnic Albanians to generate international sympathy against them, the Serbs. It proved the extent of the Kosovars' untrustworthiness, their deviousness.

There could be no common ground between those views. Which story you believed, defined you.

Similarly, there is the case of Djordje Martinovic, a Serbian peasant who turned up at hospital with a bottle in his rectum and a story about being assaulted in his field by "masked men". Although later apparently recanting his story, and confessing his "assault" had been a botched act of self-gratification, for Serbs it became a rallying point. Dismissing the recantation as an Albanian plot, Serbs were only too happy to believe that this, the violation of an honest peasant in an act with echoes of the old Turkish practice of impaling, was the extent to which ethnic Albanians would not hesitate to stoop. Martinovic quickly returned to his original story. He remains on the list of Serb martyrs to this day.

Today, Kosovo remains in an effective state of partition, nearly all its former Serb population living above the divided city of Mitrovica. Without the presence of KFOR troops, armed conflict would be inevitable. It is not their religion, or even their language, that divides Serb from Kosovar. It is the incompatability of the stories they tell. Since this book was written, both sides have volumes of fresh grievances, accentuating their enemy's inhumanity and highlighting their own victimhood. These stories, nearly all with some grain of truth, are now being woven themselves into the complex fabric of national myth.

Brilliantly, painstakingly and without taking sides, Prof. Mertus has given us a vivid account of how events become remembered. She gives us the template to understand better all the intractable conflicts of our times.

Mertus has found a new way to analyze how the elite can transform a conflict. Her theme of the "Truths" resonates strongly throughout the book. Her unbiased view and in-depth discussion left me wanting more. My interest in the subject of Balkan history grew from reading this title.

Julie Mertus has done a fine job of writing from her on the spot investigations of what she found during her interviews.

Occasionally one stumbles onto an book or author finding something special. On the Edge of Reason certainly falls into this category for it possesses a quality and intelligence one rarely encounters. Interpretation of the story is difficult simply because it emcompasses so much with Kreleza writing in an omnicient style tending eventually to answer its own questions and resolving every thought by broad consideration and rare insight. Kreleza's perspective in centering his tale on "human folly" seems both original because of unique intelligent presentation, and also age old because certainly human stupidty has been dealt with before. One is reminded of Lear's "stage of fools"; Macbeth's "parade of idiots" and from Henry IV "in everything the purpose must weigh with the folly". The narrator's struggles create a sense of intense deja vu, for we have all been there, maybe in a less protracted sense, but this is simultaneously a story both unique and common. Certainly one keeps coming back as one reads to A Man for All Seasons, as our narrator displays all the attributes of Thomas Moore, in far less heroic style. By the end we find a far broader context than bare human folly, as On the Edge of Reason becomes a complex tale of the dilemas and contradictions one faces in life, with an understated ending that leaves one just shaking the head. It is doubtful, and the reviews seem to indicate this, that one can read on the Edge of Reason without being at least somewhat blown away. The book is that well done, and certainly deserving of much wide recognition.

It's unfortunate that so little of Krleza's work has been translated into English. He was among the better writers of the 20th century. "On the Edge of Reason" is an excellent introduction to his work. In this scathing condemnation of the bourgeoisie as Krleza knew it in the last days of the Habsburg Monarchy and interwar Croatia, he describes the downfall of a man for simply speaking his mind. His unnamed protagonist finds himself unwillingly fighting a losing battle against the hypocrisy and self-righteous complacency of the establishment and polite society in a "provincial backwater." I see the reviewers below spent a lot of time comparing Krleza to various other great European authors, although in this book especially his theme much more recalls Sinclair Lewis and his unsparing critique of rural, provincial America in "Main Street." Regardless, this is an excellent book, still fresh and relevant today as it was over 60 years ago when it was first published.

This book ( maybe the word "book" better presents & delineates this impossible genre- a blend of allegory, internal monologue & confession a la Dostoevsky's "Notes", political grotesque surpassing Conrad's "The Secret Agent", sententious wisdom in the vein of Proustian aesthetic sensibility, brutal naturalistic passages worthy of a Zola,..) is a tour de force I don't think it will have ever been equalled in Western fiction.

I deliberately didn't delve into detailed analysis of the "plot"- I reckon, maybe the more general description of the work would serve as a better enticement for a wannabe reader.

Just this incredible achievement: fusing into a harmonious whole apparently incongruous authors ( I don't mean plagiarism, just sensibility & the way of writing ) like Conrad, Proust, Dostoevsky, Camus, Sologub,..makes one's mind boggle. And more: Krleza has three more novelist masterpieces, one translated ( The Return of Filip Latinowicz ), the other two ( the massive ( circa 700 pages-depends on an edition ) political-allegorical novel "Banquet in Blithuania", plus "summa krleziana", a four-volume psychological/political/historiosophical/meditative "Flags" ).

In my opinion, Krleza is so badly rated ( in fact, his prose work rivals Musil or Mann, and surpasses Sartre or Woolf ) that he will never recover in this chaotic, gilded & electronic media-oriented age. Pity. Not for him, but for the age.

A good book is capable of opening your eyes to a whole new reality, Ms. Durham does that here. An Italian historian once wrote that the Albanian territories were across the Adriatic Sea yet less known than darkest Africa, this is a valiant effort to remedy that. Ms. Durham ventures, illegaly, into northern "High" Albania with an intrepid curiosity and through Western eyes proceeds to open up the vast horizons of Albanian culture. Imagine a society so isolated by the Alps and suspiscion of outsiders that they still have a ready grasp on pre-Christian traditions and myth. Read this and learn of the highland clans, the "besa", the rights of blood and honour that decimated entire generations of males and oh so much more.

Ms. Durham managed to earn the love and respect of those that trusted no one and had been maltreated by all. She lobbied tirelessly, if vainly, for her adopted people for her entire life and in the end was embraced as the "Queen of the Mountain People." This truly is an exceptional book. Read it.

Edith Durham is the undisputed "Queen of the Northern Albanian Alps". She takes you along her tour in Victorian/British-English fashion through the Northern Albanian Alps just after the turn of the century and you feel as if you were just whisked away to ford the streams and climb the mountains with her.

Remarkable as it was to have traversed this landscape in 1909, it was nothing short of a miracle for a woman to have done it. She gained the respect of those she met, showing respect for the great traditional law of the Gheg Albanians--the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini. She was offered "bread and salt" at every table and never doubted the Albanian people's ability to show mikpritje (hospitality) towards an outsider as herself.

Furthermore, I loved the stories she relates about her visits to the specific tribes. She peppers them occasionally with Albanian parables that she was told along the way. For me, this book was amazing and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The totally engaging travel diary of a woman who explored High Albania in the years before the constitution. It is illustrated, though sparsely, with her own charming sketches.

The book explains the complex tribal system of social relationship where strict rules on intermarriage inevitably spark off tribal blood feuds. It is another view of this worlds love affair with the gun. You will be intrigued by the tradition of the "Albanian virgin".

I came to understand better, through reading this book,the civilizing power of government. The author also deals with the development of the concept of individuation and personal responsibility. This is often accompanied by the original folk stories that Ms Durham recorded.

Edith Durham became for a time unofficial "Queen" in recognition of her contributions to social welfare. The daughter of an English surgeon, she never married, but fell in love on a holiday trip and gave her life to a people. I would like to read more by, or about this woman.

This book, War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, by Andrew Carroll (Editor) is a touching book. With the recent release of the movie Pearl Harbor, the questions that my generation wants to ask the veterans of war are rising out of the ashes once again. Carroll did an excellent job of putting together a collage of soldier's letters which portrays the true emotions of our freedom fighters. Recently having studied many of the wars included in this book, War Letters pulled everything into one book; from the Civil War all the way through Bosnia/Kosovo. The letters in WWI and WWII seemed more hopeful, and 'the great generation' seemed more patriotic. While the soldiers fighting Vietnam had more of a sense of urgency, kind of 'get this over with already' attitude. A common theme with all the letters was they were writing to loved ones, and would claim they would see them soon. Unfortunately, many of these letters were the 'last letters' to the families, some even written on backs of photographs, on scratch paper, or on Hitler's personal stationary. Also, these letters are written a few hours, days, or weeks after the events happened. The soldier has no opportunity to hear what the media said, or how the nation reacted to such a horrific event. They write with their souls, spilling their guts to their families, and shedding their blood for their nation. Granted, having just completed one year of US History helps me understand these events just that much more, but all in all, this book was everything from terrifying to heart warming.

Let me start this review by confessing that I am biased. One of my letters from Vietnam is included in the book. I therefore view the book differently from the average reader.

I also got an advance copy of the book a week before the official release date, and have been able to read it.

Andrew Carroll produced this book by reading through almost 50,000 letters and selected roughly 200 that best show what everyday life in the military - and in war - are like from the viewpoint of the average soldier, sailor, marine, and airman.

Andy was able to get these letters by persuading Dear Abby to publish an appeal in her column on Veteran's Day in 1998. The column urged readers to contribute these letters so that the sacrifices of the writers would not be forgotten. The result was a flood of 50,000 letters - some faded, some muddy, some blood-stained, and one pierced by a bullet. One letter was written on Hitler's personal stationary by an American sergeant who worked in Hitler's personal quarters in Germany just after WW II. What could be a better symbol of justice?

The letter writers' views are very different than the views you will get by reading the memoirs of a general or an admiral. When I was in the Army, there was a wonderful comment that explained life in the Infantry:

"The general gets the glory, The family gets the body, and We get another mission."

Your view of the military - and of war - changes depending on your position in this food chain.

Overcoming an enemy machine gun is an interesting technical problem when you are circling a firefight in a helicopter at 1,000 feet. You take a very different view of the problem when you are so close to the machine gun that your body pulses from the shock wave of the muzzle blast.

These letters were written by soldiers while they were in the military. They are describing events that happened that day, the pervious day, or the previous week. Their memories are very fresh. Their views also are very different from the views that someone might have when writing his memoirs thirty years later. In thirty years the everyday pains, problems, and terrors could very well be forgotten or become humorous.

The book groups these letters by war or police action. There are sections for letters from the Civil War, WW I (the war to end wars), WW II, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Somolia/Bosnia/Kosovo.

Some things never change. The Civil War letter writers grumble about poor food, tiresome marches, mindless sergeants and incompetent officers. The Vietnam letter writers (myself included) grumbled about the same things.

One anguished letter was from an officer in Vietnam who was torn by his need to hide his opposition to the war for fear of demoralizing his men. At the end of the letter is a brief comment explaining that the officer stepped on a mine and died shortly after writing this letter.

Welcome to life in the military. Welcome to war.

You should read this book if you want to see what life was like and is like in the military and in war.

Let me start this review by confessing that I am biased. One of my letters from Vietnam is included in the book. I therefore view the book differently from the average reader.

I also got an advance copy of the book a week before the official release date, and have been able to read it.

Andrew Carroll produced this book by reading through almost 50,000 letters and selected roughly 200 that best show what everyday life in the military - and in war - are like from the viewpoint of the average soldier, sailor, marine, and airman.

Andy was able to get these letters by persuading Dear Abby to publish an appeal in her column on Veteran's Day in 1998. The column urged readers to contribute these letters so that the sacrifices of the writers would not be forgotten. The result was a flood of 50,000 letters - some faded, some muddy, some blood-stained, and one pierced by a bullet. One letter was written on Hitler's personal stationary by an American sergeant who worked in Hitler's personal quarters in Germany just after WW II. What could be a better symbol of justice?

The letter writers' views are very different than the views you will get by reading the memoirs of a general or an admiral. When I was in the Army, there was a wonderful comment that explained life in the Infantry:

"The general gets the glory, The family gets the body, and We get another mission."

Your view of the military - and of war - changes depending on your position in this food chain.

Overcoming an enemy machine gun is an interesting technical problem when you are circling a firefight in a helicopter at 1,000 feet. You take a very different view of the problem when you are so close to the machine gun that your body pulses from the shock wave of the muzzle blast.

These letters were written by soldiers while they were in the military. They are describing events that happened that day, the pervious day, or the previous week. Their memories are very fresh. Their views also are very different from the views that someone might have when writing his memoirs thirty years later. In thirty years the everyday pains, problems, and terrors could very well be forgotten or become humorous.

The book groups these letters by war or police action. There are sections for letters from the Civil War, WW I (the war to end wars), WW II, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Somolia/Bosnia/Kosovo.

Some things never change. The Civil War letter writers grumble about poor food, tiresome marches, mindless sergeants and incompetent officers. The Vietnam letter writers (myself included) grumbled about the same things.

One anguished letter was from an officer in Vietnam who was torn by his need to hide his opposition to the war for fear of demoralizing his men. At the end of the letter is a brief comment explaining that the officer stepped on a mine and died shortly after writing this letter.

Welcome to life in the military. Welcome to war.

You should read this book if you want to see what life was like and is like in the military and in war.

If you were ever curious as to how and where the vampire stories began and how Bram Stoker conceived the idea for his book this is a must have. It depicts the events in the life of Vlad Teppes (Dracula), the son of Dracul and notorious leader of Transylvania and the bloodthirsty Eizabeth Bathory of a Hungarian aristrocratic family.

As a former student of both McNally and Florescu in history and in folklore I may be a bit biased. But suffice it to say that whether you want to know about the Dracula of contemporary media, mythical vampires (as well as a few pseudo-authentic blood-thirsters in history) in general or the historical and all too human Vlad, these are the guys you ask. This book is a terrific starting point for anyone who really wants to dig into the subject, and also a very well rounded study for those who want a (detailed) glance at the history and the myths. Enter freely and of your own will. :)

I really love this book,I keep it by my bed at night.This book has more information on Vlad & vampires than most I have read. More than half the vampire books I have just barely graze Vlad (Dracula)& his history.This book contains a real detailed look into Vlad's life & Stoker's monster.