"Mountains precede"
Fernand Braudel
In this exceptionally original history, Mark Mazower dismantles the prevailing Western clichés about the Balkans and, instead of reproducing its stereotypes, vividly describes how mountains, empires, and religions shaped the lives of the region's inhabitants. Acting as a bridge between Europe and Asia, the Balkans were exposed to continuous invasions by nomadic peoples throughout the centuries. The mountains made agriculture difficult and political control almost impossible, while allowing small communities to coexist until the end of the twentieth century. Empires based on religion rather than ethnic identity shaped customs and beliefs in a way that did not completely disappear with the arrival of the modern world.
Mazower's narrative extends both chronologically - from the Romans to the present day, with intermediate stages being the Byzantine and Ottoman past - and geographically, treating the former Ottoman territories in Europe as part of a complex yet common historical heritage.
Mazower, one of the prominent British historians of modern Europe, has written an exceptionally rich and substantial book that not only provides an absolutely necessary historical and cultural background for understanding the current Balkan political reality but also offers the reader a new image of the region's relations with Europe as a whole.