Post by kesterj on Oct 14, 2012 21:06:19 GMT 1
Desperate to find meaning in my weekend (not Premier League tipster rankings to fret about) - I am reading this book.
Has anyone else in here done so? It's by an American guy, who travels through Yugoslavia as it is imploding in 90-91.
I suppose you could say that he exposes nationalistic absurdities regarding all the ethnic groups of former Yugo (I've not really got to any bits where he deals with the Kosovars, Montenegrins or Maks yet), the Serbs definitely have a hard time of it - but one might argue he exposes the Croat absurdities more than most.
He also offers a tragic explanation for one of the flashpoints that started the killing of 1991 - a kind of prank that went awfully wrong. (I forget the name of the village - in Eastern Slavonia, I think - but anyone in the country at the time will know of the incident. )
There is a rather complex (at least if you don't know all the linguistic terms) on the various dialects relating to who speaks what in Croatia and Serbia - he concludes only about 750,000 actually speak Croatian. (Number from memory). I suspect that should get some people waxing forth with alternative numbers.
I'd proffer that it's well worth a read for anyone seeking to understand a bit about the history behind the break up - but I suspect others may have widely differing opinions.
kesterj
Has anyone else in here done so? It's by an American guy, who travels through Yugoslavia as it is imploding in 90-91.
I suppose you could say that he exposes nationalistic absurdities regarding all the ethnic groups of former Yugo (I've not really got to any bits where he deals with the Kosovars, Montenegrins or Maks yet), the Serbs definitely have a hard time of it - but one might argue he exposes the Croat absurdities more than most.
He also offers a tragic explanation for one of the flashpoints that started the killing of 1991 - a kind of prank that went awfully wrong. (I forget the name of the village - in Eastern Slavonia, I think - but anyone in the country at the time will know of the incident. )
There is a rather complex (at least if you don't know all the linguistic terms) on the various dialects relating to who speaks what in Croatia and Serbia - he concludes only about 750,000 actually speak Croatian. (Number from memory). I suspect that should get some people waxing forth with alternative numbers.
I'd proffer that it's well worth a read for anyone seeking to understand a bit about the history behind the break up - but I suspect others may have widely differing opinions.
kesterj
