Balkan Genocides

October 15, 2011
The Balkan peninsula, with its crisscrossing mountain ranges, is divided into relatively small geographic regions and equally small religious and ethnic enclaves. Whenever the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and, later, various Communist overlordships crumbled, the peoples of those divisions were free to have at each other throughout the last century. As Mojzes, a professor of religious studies at Rosemont College, indicates, the Balkans have earned bragging rights as a center of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Mojzes begins with a definition of terms, distinguishing between the often misunderstood differences between genocide and ethnic cleansing. He proceeds in a methodical, sometimes ponderous way to explain the causes and courses of these outrages while striving for fairness, since objectivity about such emotional issues may be impossible. Some of the events he reports, such as the cleansing and massacres during the breakup of Yugoslavia, will be familiar to most readers. Others, such as the mass expulsions and killings during the Balkan wars of 191213, are less well-known. A disturbing but important work about a still volatile region.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)