The
Yugoslav tragedy is a story about crimes committed
with extraordinary boldness and deception, propagated
by the politicians and by the media from both inside,
and outside, the former Yugoslavia. This mixture, at
the heart of the conflict, provoked the greatest
humanitarian catastrophe in Europe since World War
II.
Written in
memory to a lost homeland, to the people who died,
and to the people who survived--especially the
refugees, displaced internally or dispersed
throughout the world--this book is a powerful
commentary on war itself that provides insight into
the roles that history, ethnic nationalism, and
religious differences can play in modern conflict.
"A
finely crafted historical dialectics that refuses
to give into dualist explanations about 'the
crimes' and eventually the death of the former
Republic of Yugoslavia, as resulting from either
'bad' primordial ancient hatreds and ethnic
nationalism, or from the lack of some civic
nationalism in the form of 'good' but
artificially constructed communities. The author
follows Hannah Arendt in charting the history of
a long century of 'statelessness, rightlessness
and homelessness' in the region brought on by
externally imposed balkanization. Every step of
the way we are warned against those who preach
the purity of ethnos over demos, or conversely,
those who seek the bureaucratic disconnection of
ethnos from demos as an ideal solution."
--Greg M. Nielsen, Concordia University, author
of The Norms of
Answerability: Social Theory Between Bakhtin and
Habermas
"The
strength of Ljubisic's work is the seamless way
it moves from one level to another, first
analyzing events in the former Yugoslavia at the
level of state politics, then shifting to a
discussion of the international context, and
finally, and most importantly, describing the
impacts of these events at the individual level.
In the process, she provides a comprehensive
analysis of these confusing events and a much
needed contribution to the literature. This is
essential reading for anyone who wishes to
understand the recent history of the Balkan
region."
--Neil Gerlach, Carelton University, author of The
Genetic Imaginary: DNA in the Canadian Criminal
Justice System
Table of Contents
DAVORKA
LJUBISIC holds a BA from the University of Ljubljana,
in Slovenia and an MA from Concordia University in
Montreal, Canada. She was born in Zagreb, Croatia--at
the time one of six constitutive republics of
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Unable to
live according to the agenda of 'newprimitivism' and
a politics of sorrow, in 1995 she immigrated to
Canada.
224 pages,
6x9, index, bibliography, maps
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-232-8 $24.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-233-6 $53.99
Politics / Cultural
Studies
December
2003
