Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia - Softcover

West, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571255817 ISBN 13: 9780571255818

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2011

Synopsis

Few figures have dominated a nation's destiny as much as Marshal Tito of former Yugoslavia. For nearly thirty years he held together mutually hostile religious groups in a deeply divided country, but his death in 1980 rekindled centuries-old hatreds and by 1992 Yugoslavia ceased to exist. In this revealing biography, Richard West questions the full impact of Tito's reign of power and his implicit responsibility for the ensuing violent, bloody war in Bosnia. 'Excellent ... I recommend his book for those who already know about Yugoslavia and want food for thought about the future.' David Owen, Sunday Times 'Admirable ... Carefully researched and extremely readable.' Literary Review 'A passionate book, in which West's historical sense is interlaced with his own very intimate knowledge of Yugoslavia from the late 1940s on and of the poignancy of [subsequent] events.' Fergus Pyle, Irish Times 'Masterly'. Glasgow Herald

About this title

About the Author:

Richard West (b. 1930) is a British journalist and author most noted for his reporting of the Vietnam War, and Yugoslavia, for which he has had a lifelong passion. He began his career at the Manchester Guardian, subsequently becoming a foreign correspondent in Yugoslavia, Africa, Central America and Indochina. Among his books are Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia, The Making of the Prime Minister and An English Journey.

From Publishers Weekly:

This impressive biography of Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) sheds welcome light on the current bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia. West describes Tito's rise to power, his creation of the Partisan Army during the Axis occupation, his consolidation of southern Slavs after the war and establishment of a Communist Yugoslavia, the break with Stalin in 1948, Tito's subsequent rivalry with the Soviet bloc and his leadership of nonaligned states. In freelance journalist West's view, Tito's great achievement in foreign affairs was the rapprochement with western Europe. The book also clarifies the present three-way conflict among Serbs, Croats and Muslims. West argues persuasively that to understand the region's cycle of hatred and violence, one must take an in-depth look at its religious history, especially the schisms among the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church and Islam in the Middle Ages. In contrast to Western media assumptions, there is scant difference, according to West, between warring factions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, all of whom are alike in appearance, language and bellicosity: what divides them is not class or race but religious intolerance. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0571255817
• ISBN 13: 9780571255818
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 470