WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW About This Series
Who it's for:
Busy people with diverse interests, ranging from college students to professionals, who wish to inform themselves in a succinct yet authoritative manner about a particular topic.
What's inside:
An incisive approach to a complex and timely issue, laid out in a straight-forward, question-and-answer format.
Meet Our Authors
Top experts in their given fields, ranging from an Economist correspondent to a director at the Council on Foreign Relations, you can trust our authors’ expertise and guidance.
Popular Topics in the "What Everyone Needs to Know" Series
- International Politics
- Environmental Policies
- World History
- Sciences & Math
- Religion & Spirituality
Economist correspondent Judah’s primer on Europe’s youngest country packs a surprising amount of nuance into a slim volume. This is good, for his is an exceedingly complex and politically fraught topic that would seem to permit little clumsiness. Though his stated goal is to provide the basics—Who are the Albanians? Who are the Serbians?—even these are difficult questions to answer without engaging in a fairly sophisticated discussion about ancient and recent history, national identity, and, of course, the war. As Judah understands, histories are constantly being reshaped for political gain, and shifting allegiances and the activities of one’s neighbors can all define the contours of national identity. His analysis is thus considerably strengthened by the author’s command of the Balkans’ fluid and occasionally opaque demographics. Emphasizing political and ethnic variables, this book will unfortunately not tell you everything you need to know about the region’s music, art, or cuisine. Tracking recent events up through and including Kosovo’s spring 2008 independence, however, it remains a solid introduction to an important topic. --Brendan Driscoll
Review
"A straightforward guide to the history and geopolitics of Kosovo and the first book on the country since its declaration of independence in February this year."--The Economist"Packs a surprising amount of nuance into a slim volume... a solid introduction to an important topic."--Booklist"Judah does a commendable job of telling the dense story in an understandable fashion. Because the region changes so quickly, an up-to-date history like this is welcome."--Library Journal"[A] concise and updated version of his longer and more detailed history published in 2000...Judah's short history of Kosovo is a fair and sympathetic account of an impossible situation..."--New York Review of Books About the Author
Tim Judah is a correspondent for The Economist covering the Balkans. He is the author of Kosovo: War and Revenge, and The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia.
