Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History

5 Responses to “Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History”

1. Kosovar says:

   October 22, 2010 at 10:18 pm

   In the very first pages you’ll find out that sadly this Kaplan man was very influenced by the serbs when he wrote this book. If this Kaplan pseudo-historian only knew how things will evolve in Balkans he would probably be more all ears on truth then to the serb myths. And one of the main reasons why one should not waste time on this book is : This so-called writer Kaplan writes a book about Balkan’s history lacking once mentioning the Illyrians
   who were the first people in the Balkans. How stupid, and I bet even this serb influenced Kaplan realises that, after all what happened to the Balkan states like Croatia,Bosnia and Kosova.
   My advice to future historians would be : Stick with the truth if your goal is to be a published writer because if you don’t and you get published you’ll remain stupid forever. I mean books survive somehow and eventually they get read by a name even after thousands of years.
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
2. Anonymous says:

   October 23, 2010 at 12:14 am

   Kaplan, nowadays, seems to be an power for narrow-minded politicians and for the large public — both of whom are less familiar with the past and social complexities of non-Western countries and regions. It is against this background that his book — nicely written, though — passes as an erudite account of the Balkans.

   His book has the following major shortcomings: 1) it is regularly inaccurate in terms of past facts and details; 2) it is plagued by Western [or rather American] ethnocentrism; and consequently, 3) it offers an unbalanced, prejudiced view of the Balkan countries — see for instance Kaplan’s dislike of Romania or Serbia, as compared to his extremely sympathetic views towards additional countries. (Parenthetically, readers interested in a more balanced account of different countries from that region should read the book “Stealing from a Deep Place”. Sorry to say, it’s out of print but you might find it in some used bookstores or at local libraries.)

   Granted, this could have been a fantastic book. As it is, I cannot recommend this book. Nor can I recommend additional, more recent quasi-intellectual productions of Mr. Kaplan for I suspect them of having the same flaws as the “Balkan Ghosts”. It’s only to the detriment of both political circles and the American public that Mr. Kaplan – otherwise a decent writer — has achieved the status of an practiced in this country.
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
3. Shogun Len says:

   October 23, 2010 at 2:01 am

   My Review of Balkan Ghosts is simple. If you want to read the best book on the Balkans and want to know why, what is going on in that region of the world happened, then read this book. This book clearly shows, and predicted what happened to cause the horrible conflict that has turned the Balkans into a Powderkeg again. This is a fantastic book. Kaplan is a fantastic writer and this is a fantastic book. I recommend it highly.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
4. Alexandru says:

   October 23, 2010 at 3:46 am

   I selected up the book in the library and I was interested in Romanian history. I only read a few pages to realize the book is full of misinformation. This is right about all-purpose things, such as religion. Mr Kaplan says orthodox christianity is mysticism, whereas it’s obvious that the religion is at the heart of christianity (unchanged since roman times, unlike catholicism, and I’m not even mentioning the spin-off cults). The only way you could see orthodox christianity as mysticism is from a Jewish perspective, as it’s a Judaism spin-off. Even simple facts are distorted. For example, here’s a quote that annoyed me:

   “Most laborers were prisoners, including political detainees linked with the Jewish intellectual Anna pauker. Gheorghiu-Dej had cruelly crushed Pauker’s “internationalist” wing of the Communist party, with the help of a ex- cobbler and petty thief from Wallachia, named (the in his mid-thirties) Ceausescu.”

   Mr Kaplan – Ana Pauker was NOT an intellectual. She did not even end high school, even if she went to Switzerland to end it, because it was much simpler there. Ana Pauker was a criminal who sent hundreds of thousand of romanians to dig a channel, and subsequently to death because of the miserable conditions. There is no difference between the channel and Nazi concentration camps. These people included most of the romanian intelligentia of the time.
   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
5. Anonymous says:

   October 23, 2010 at 5:47 am

   Geez, many of the additional reviewers are dreadfully harsh and inaacurate. It simply isn’t honest to say Kaplan presents presents the various Balkan ethnicities in a simple way; he doesn’t just say the Romanians are tyrants, for example. No one could read the book honestly and say Kaplan makes such sweeping characterizations. But place that aside. What is really arresting in the reviews is how few people have anything to say about the fate of the Jews in the Balkans. Some of what was done to them was as horrendous as anything done to anyone ever. Why no comments on persons events, O People of the Balkans? Your silence is not apt.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5