Review

Author(s): Dennis Reinhartz

Review by: Dennis Reinhartz
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 103, No. 4 (Oct., 1998), p. 1281
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2651286
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 Modern Europe 1281

indented quotations, often from secondary sources, former Yugoslav lands since 1991. This recounting is
which could have been paraphrased. In some in- very skillfully interwoven throughout the entire text.
stances, Lampland is repetitive. Accuracy is also elu- For example, in the second chapter Lampe correctly
sive at times. For example, the landowner Bartha'sfirst points out that the Ottoman Porte employed Bosnian
name appears as Pal in one quote (p. 96), Andras in Muslims to supptess brutally the first Serbian uprising
another (p. 98), and Andor in the index. Another under Karajordje.
weakness is the author's failure at times to understand In telling his story of the two Yugoslavias (despite
the political background of twentieth-centuryHungar- the above cited example), Lampe also vigorously at-
ian history, leading her to ascribe terms erroneously. tempts to dispel some widely held misconceptions
PETER PASTOR about the current crisis in this part of the Balkans. At
Montclair State University the outset, he states that the "notion of 'age-old'
antagonisms"being a root cause is "historicallyfalse"
JOHN R. LAMPE. Ylugoslavia as Histoiy: Twice ThereWas (p. xvi). Shortly thereafter, he perceptively offers notes
a Colntitty.New York: Cambridge University Press. it is largely the European and American media that
1996. Pp. xx, 421. Cloth $59.95, paper $19.95. have encouraged many of the popularly held attitudes
about Yugoslavia, especially concerning "imagined
The dramaticfailure of communism in Europe, includ- adversaries" (e.g. Muslims and Serbs) and historic
ing the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union and its alliances (e.g. Russian-Serb-Greek)(p. 2). Throughout
empire and the disintegration of the Socialist Federal the book, while questioning all inevitabilities impact-
Republic of Yugoslavia, constitutes one of the major ing from the past into the present, Lampe tries to point
events of the twentieth century and one that undoubt- out that the historical foundations for such views are
edly will send reverberationswell into the next millen- insubstantial at best. He concludes that the current
nium. Consequently, the significance of this historical situation stems more from relatively recent and real
moment has for more than a decade been underscored economic problems of inflation, unemployment, and
by the appearance of numerous scholarly and other underdevelopment and from politically stimulated eth-
works relative to its sources, duration, linkages, and nic disputes.
aftereffects. What emerges from this continuing out- In this clearly and concisely written volume, the
put is a delineation of immense complexity both with author has admirablysucceeded in the tasks he set for
regard to the overall occurrence and to its aggregate himself. Although there are too few maps and other
elements, such as the break-up of post-World War II illustrations, the book offers a realistic interpretation
Yugoslavia. What also emerges is a rather general of the history of twentieth-century Yugoslavia and
agreement that seeing its broader historical context is Yugoslavism that is well-documented with extensive
absolutely essential to comprehending the event in its notes and a selected bibliography and supported by
full complexity. The accurate reconstruction and inter- personal experiences. But this is not a book for the
pretation of the past is therefore fundamental to first-time wanderer into Yugoslav or Balkan affairs.
achieving a more comprehensive understandingof this Given the breadth and complexity of the topic as well
contemporaryepisode and its possible outcomes in the as publication restrictions, Lampe understandablyhad
future. to be discriminating in his presentation. He has nev-
John R. Lampe offers us just such a careful inter- ertheless produced a necessary, important, and even
pretive reconstruction of the South Slav past. Lampe is occasionally refreshing book that will be of significant
the author of several books on Yugoslav-American interest to any knowledgeable reader on the modern
relations and Bulgarian and Balkan economic history. Balkans.
In the acknowledgments, Lampe intimates that this DENNIS REINHARTZ
new work is a successor to Fred Singleton's A Short Universityof Texas at Arlington
Histoiy of the YulgoslavPeople (1985) and Stephen
Clissold'sA ShortHistoiy of Yulgoslavia(1968). Yet it is
also very different from and much more than these ANTHONY CROSS. By the Banks of the Neva. Chapters
books. from the Lives and Caree,s of the British in Eighteenth-
As the subtitle of this volume hints, Lampe seeks to Centuiy Russia. New York: Cambridge University
examine the disintegration of Titoist Yugoslavia Press. 1997. Pp. xv, 474. $80.00.
(1945-1991) and the ongoing succession struggles in
the contexts of its history and multinationalism and Anthony Cross's book is more than a long-awaited
those of the royalist Yugoslavia (1918-1941) that complement to his earlier monograph, "Bythe Banks of
preceded it: the two Yugoslavias and Yugoslavism. In the Thames": Russians in Eighteenth-CenturyBritain
so doing, he also must consider a current third Yugo- (1980). More ambitious and varied, it reflects the
slavia (Serbia and Montenegro since 1991). But while greater number and social diversity of Britons in
the first three chapters treat the historical background eighteenth-century Russia. It is also a more masterly
to the two major Yugoslavias and the myths and work, weaving together a lifetime of indefatigable
realities of Yugoslavism from the Middle Ages to bibliographic research and a profusion of careful
World War I, no chapter deals specifically with the scholarly articles, books, and edited works on special-

AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW OCTOBER 1998

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