"Two fine and well-written works. . . . The authors, British journalists who covered the Yugoslav wars, are well worth reading. Their respective accounts give insights into the historical baggage the Yugoslav ethnic groups brought to their latest convulsions."—Dusko Doder, Boston Globe
"Tim Judah has written a lively and balanced history of the Serbs that begins with their successful medieval efforts to establish a state and ends with their failed attempt in the 1990s to create Greater Serbia."—Aleksa Djilas, New York Times Book Review
"A very good book...Judah cleverly interprets Serbia's sad present in the light of its past."—Sunday Times
"[Tanner and Judah] bring to bear wide knowledge of Yugoslavia and shared experience of Europe's worst war since 1945. Each gives a good historical survey and an account of the war's causes."—The Economist
"Readable and stimulating. . . . Judah's book is a polemical attempt to counter the 'demonisation' of the Serbs. But it is far from being a whitewash: with very few exceptions, he successfully walks the tightrope between 'balance' and relativisation."—Brendan Simms, Times Higher Education Supplement
"An eloquent plea for the centrality of the past in any explanation of the catastrophic present. . . . A remarkable book about Croatia."—David Rieff, Globe & Mail
"The book's scope and quality recommend it."—Zachary T. Irwin, Library Journal
"Judah's book is probably the best attempt to date to explain the calamitous situation of the Serbs today through a meticulous consideration of the Serb past."—David Rieff, Toronto Globe and Mail
"An excellent reference to explain the motivation and actions of the Serbian leaders and people."—Steven A. Policastro, Armor
"This is a first-rate profile of the Serb nation from which general readers can derive a great deal."—Choice
"Stressing the Serbs' misuse and mythologizing of history, Judah offers an insightful, informed, and trenchant consideration of their history and their collective outlook. . . . A stylish and highly readable account by an experienced journalist. . . . His presentation is nuanced, focused, and rich with motifs that he follows from the Middle Ages to the present. . . . Judah's excellent book stands out in a cluttered field, offering the key to Serbia's behavior over the past decade."—Kirkus Reviews
"Tim Judah writes splendidly. . . .The story he tells does much to explain both the Serb obsession with the treachery of outsiders and their quasi-religious faith in the eventual founding, or rather reestablishment, of the Serbian state."—Mark Danner, New York Review of Books
"[Judah] has written a thoughtful, humane, and acute portrait of the Serbs which draws together history, modern politics, and war to explain how they came to be where they are. . . . A fine, impartial study which deserves to be translated into Serbo-Croat and will surely be consulted long after the present conflict abates."—Tom Gallagher, The Herald
"The aim of this book is to trace the history of the Serbs and to explain how they came to be where they are, and in the case of Croatia were until 1995. It is to trace the way that the centre of Serbian life migrated with its people from south to north and to explain how the idea of 'Serbdom,' as the Serbs call it, was kept alive during the centuries of Ottoman rule. It is also to explore why, with the fall of communism, they enthusiastically acclaimed Slobodan Milosevic, an opportunistic and cynical leader who was interested only in power."—From the preface
