"The Balkans: A Short History" by Mark Mazower

I got this book as a present from my cousin at Yale, who apparently thought it is one of the best book on the Balkans.  Well, it is a pretty good book, but there are some omissions.  First, the early periods of the Balkan states and their development are very well covered.  The Roman, Byzantine (Eastern Roman) and the Ottoman periods are covered in vivid detail, emphasizing the little know facts of the empires being not based on nationality and ethnicity, but on religion and social/cultural cohesion.  This is very important, especially for South-East Europe where many "new" nations emerged from the nationalism in the XIX century and laid claims to much longer history. 

The main weakness of the book is in covering the last periods of the development of the Balkan States.  The turmoil in Greece in the '70s and the military dictatorship of "The Generals" is very lightly covered.  The development of Yugoslavia from a backward agrarian state to an industrial power with the 4th largest army in Europe and full domestic production of all weaponry and military equipment, is also covered very lightly.  The disintegration of Yugoslavia and the second wave of Balkan Wars in the 1990s is not covered almost at all. 

Mazower also throws a few 'curve balls' like calling the Bosniak and Macedonian nations 'newly created' after WWII in Tito's Yugoslavia, while ignoring the decades and centuries before of nationalistic movements and fight for national recognition in these countries and regions.  History has shown us, as in the Russian Moldavian example, that 'new' nations cannot be created without having some solid historical development on the ground.  Which is why, after independence, the Bosniak and Macedonian nations are continuing strong, but the "Moldavian" nation, has voluntarily reverted to the original Romanian nomenclature.  Such reversals have not happened either in Bosnia nor in Macedonia.

Overall, a good, entertaining read, but only to be seen as a piece of a larger puzzle; the other pieces to be identified and collected by the reader.