Balkan. Somewhere between a tragedy and a myth, a place and a condition, the term is perhaps best understood as a metaphor. It has been used and abused... in academia by proponents of opposing political views. Multiculturalism has appropriated it, as have postmodernism and postcommunism. It is used pejoratively to refer to excessive specialization and nostalgically to refer to Europe's lost people -- its wild warriors and passionate geniuses. This book explores the idea of the Balkan as metaphor and the meaning of Balkan identity in the context of contemporary culture. Focusing on Balkanism both as a body of knowledge and as the critical study of that discourse, this book does for the Balkans what Edward Said's Orientalism did for "the Orient."The sixteen authors, most of whom were born and educated in the Balkans, apply the Western academic tools of postmodernism, poststructuralism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and critical multiculturalism to topics as varied as the rhetoric of Balkanization, the war in Kosovo, Western demonization and erotization of the Serbs, Balkan film, human rights legislation, Byzantinism, the vampire as an image of Balkan violence, envy of the political and moral capital of victimhood, the tendency of the Balkan psyche toward depression, Serbian machismo and homosexuality, and wartime rape. The book both lays the groundwork for a new field of study and serves as an act of resistance against the many forms of representation that break the Balkans into fragments such as NATO army bases and digital maps in order to wire them into the global market.

During the 20th century, the Balkan Peninsula was affected by three major waves of genocides and ethnic cleansings, some of which are still being denied... today. In Balkan Genocides Paul Mojzes provides a balanced and detailed account of these events, placing them in their proper historical context and debunking the common misrepresentations and misunderstandings of the genocides themselves. A native of Yugoslavia, Mojzes offers new insights into the Balkan genocides, including a look at the unique role of ethnoreligiosity in these horrific events and a characterization of the first and second Balkan wars as mutual genocides. Mojzes also looks to the region's future, discussing the ongoing trials at the International Criminal Tribunal in Yugoslavia and the prospects for dealing with the lingering issues between Balkan nations and different religions. Balkan Genocides attempts to end the vicious cycle of revenge which has fueled such horrors in the past century by analyzing the terrible events and how they came to pass.

From the assassination that triggered World War I to the ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, the Balkans have been the crucible of the... twentieth century, the place where terrorism and genocide first became tools of policy. Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, and greeted with critical acclaim as "the most insightful and timely work on the Balkans to date" (The Boston Globe), Kaplan's prescient, enthralling, and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic.This new edition includes six opinion pieces written by Robert Kaplan about the Balkans between l996 and 2000 beginning just after the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords and ending after the conclusion of the Kosovo war, with the removal of Slobodan Milosevic from power.

Includes: The Body of a Woman by Matei Visniec, Cordon by Nebojsa Romcevic, When I Want to Whistle, I Whistle... by Andreea Valean, and Soap Opera by... Gyorgy Spiro.

The bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the region's wider struggles with a post-Communist transition suggest continuing Balkan burdens for the... peoples and states of Southeastern Europe. Ethnic conflict, disputed borders, forced migration and foreign intervention had already scarred the countries from Romania south to Greece during the decades surrounding the two world wars. John Lampe disputes this pejoratively Balkan background. He traces the region's traumatic twentieth century through wars and postwar transitions that adopted or confronted European ideologies, institutions and interventions.

The violent disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991-92 brought about the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, atrocities on massive scale,... and a new term, "ethnic cleansing", for the tactics of nationalist civil war. The failure of Western action to prevent the spread of violence or to negotiate peace disheartened Europeans in their drive to greater unity and turned the euphoria about the "new world order" into cynicism about US leadership. On their own, and as a warning of similar conflicts yet to come, the Yugoslav wars present the first major challenge to US foreign policy after the Cold War. Why did the Yugoslav state break up? And why did the break-up lead to war? In this book, Susan Woodward analyzes the causes of the Yugoslav wars and argues that focusing on ancient ethnic hatreds and military aggression misunderstands nationalism in post-communist states.

Secrets et mensonges, est-ce le seul héritage que sa grand-mère, Nina, et sa mère, Reynalda, vont léguer à la narratrice ? Trois femmes, trois... générations séparées bien qu’unies par le sang. Enfant abandonnée, Marie-Noëlle grandit à la Désirade, jusqu’au jour où sa mère l’a fait venir en France. Mère inconnue, terre inconnue. À Savigny-sur-Orge, elle se morfond dans une cité, sans jamais trouver sa place dans cette famille, pourtant la sienne. Commence alors pour elle une douloureuse quête sur la vérité de sa naissance.Elle interroge Nina et Reynalda. Leurs aveux sont affabulés, leurs demi-vérités ajoutent au mystère, ni l’une ni l’autre n’est disposée à livrer son histoire vraie.Si déguisées soit-elle, ces confidences font apparaître des femmes libres à tout prix, en lutte contre un destin qui veut les clouer : maternités non désirées, hommes non choisis, traditions frelatées d’un pays en rupture d’histoire. Long chemin, longue peine avant que, revenue à la Désirade, Marie-Noëlle ne conclut à la vanité des hantises familiales. Et vivre devient alors sa seule vérité.À travers de puissantes figures romanesques, c’est toute l’histoire des Antilles modernes qui se déploie ici, dans une langue qui associe la concision des grands Anglo-Saxons à la verve enchantée du créole.

A haunting, almost uncanny tale of love and honor in which the three main characters move through a world of secret passions and silences. . . . [Set in... Puerto Rico], scenes of impoverished farmers, madwomen, and men in coffee shops and cafes combine to form a blend of voices and landscapes whose essence can be distilled into three words: tobacco, coffee, and sugar. . . . Asa Zatz must be praised for bringing into his English version the beauty and melody of [Gonzalez's] Spanish original.--Marjorie Agosin, New York Times Book Review

Once upon a time there were five little girls who shared a dream. They wanted to be ballerinas and dance on stage like their sisters and cousins and... friends.But it would be hard for these girls to make their dream come true. They had cerebral palsy or other physical disabilities, which meant their muscles didn’t move the way they wanted them to. Some wore leg braces. Some used wheelchairs and walkers to get around. But these girls were determined. They had a dedicated teacher.  Every week they practiced. They worked hard. And one day they were ready.     Ballerina Dreams is an inspiring true story of love, hope and courage for everyone and anyone who has ever wished (and worked) hard enough to make their dreams come true.Ballerina Dreams is the winner of the 2008 Bank Street - Flora Stieglitz Award.

(Limelight). Veteran dance writer Robert Greskovic's comprehensive handbook on how to watch and appreciate the ballet is now available in this new... edition. It includes a complete analysis of sixteen important and popular ballets, from Swan Lake to Twyla Tharp's Push Comes To Shove . As Mikhail Baryshnikov states in the book's foreword: "All the things that ballet fans talk about at intermission, while newcomers stand there wondering what they mean: those things are here...(Robert Greskovic) has been thinking about ballet --- watching it, reading, writing, and talking about it --- day after day for more than thirty years. He knows it through and through. Now he shares his knowledge."

Now expanded and updated, this second edition of the original bestseller is an engaging interpretation of dance history—from the Ancient Greeks and... European royal courts to the rise of the “American“ ballet and the explosion of modern dance. Short profiles, an extensive bibliography, a helpful index, and selections from primary sources are also included.