Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan

[Gusington]

About 100 pages into this book right now. It gets some knocks from some reviewers as being biased, but so far I haven't read anything too out of control. I get the feeling that reviewers who called the author biased may have been Turkish, because the Turks loom over the entire narrative as the ultimate boogeyman, as do the Soviets and the Nazis.

The stories of the author's travels through the Balkan countries circa 1985-1995 are just brutal in some spots. The chapters on Serbian, Romanian and Macedonian history are particularly well done, albeit bloody. Also interesting is how the politics of the Balkans has dragged in stronger powers over the years.

Check it out if you are even casually interested in the area but note the book itself is now 20 years old...it doesn't make anything the author has written here (so far) incorrect but it's just something to note...when the book was published there was no internet, social media, etc.