Book: “Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration”

 Published in 2004, this book is about the tragedies of Bosnia and Kosovo are often explained away as the unchangeable legacy of “centuries-old hatreds.” In this richly detailed, expertly balanced chronicle of the Balkans across fifteen centuries, Dennis Hupchick sets a complicated record straight. Organized around the three great civilizations of the region–Western European, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim–this is a much-needed guide to the political, social, cultural, and religious threads of Balkan history–with a clear, convincing account of the reasons for nationalist violence and terror.