Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia began as an aspiration, as the noble ideal of uniting the southern Slavic peoples. What followed was a meandering and often turbulent history: from kingdom to socialist republic, from tourist paradise to warzone.
Required reading for everyone engaged in peacekeepingNRC
In this gripping book, Johan de Boose – poet, doctor in Slavic studies and seasoned traveller in Eastern Europe – journeys through the former Yugoslavia. He searches for what the country once was and seeks to understand why it eventually fell apart. Having learned the languages, he lived there for a while and spoke with people from every corner of the region. Based on his observations, reading, and films, he unfolds the story of a country – a story that is both unique and universal.
An enthralling travel story, but also an eye-opening book. Nuance has the power to shake even the firmest of convictions. *****De Standaard
Yugoslavia becomes a fractured mirror held up to Europe: the problems the continent struggles with today emerged years earlier in the Balkans. In a Europe that increasingly seems to dance to a thousand tunes, the tale of Yugoslavia has taken on renewed relevance.
Part travel narrative, part history lesson, and part declaration of love, ‘Yugoslavia’ offers a rich, layered portrait of a fascinating region — a chronicle of ideas, conflicts, and the fragile art of living together.
There is little in ‘Yugoslavia’ that has never been in a book before, but a great deal that has never been together in one book. Belgian writer Johan de Boose throws himself with unprecedented eagerness and curiosity onto the former multi-ethnic state.de Volkskrant
