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Mazower demonstrates how recent the concept of 'the Balkans' is, and how freighted with preconceptions. He traces the geographical, demographic and political pressures which carved out interdependent but antagonistic political units; in the process he suggestively redefines our ideas of 'Europe', especially regarding its Ottoman dimension.
The reflections on subjects as diverse as the continuity of Byzantine culture, the fate of 'post-peasant' societies in the age of tourism, the uses of ecumenism (and occultism), and the relationship of nationalism and globalisation make this book far larger than its narrow covers suggest; the epilogue alone, 'On Violence', should be required reading for all students of modern history.
It takes as its epigraph the remark made by an Ottoman official to a French priest in 1848. 'When I travelled in Europe, I saw everywhere things I did not particularly like. Fine - I did not say, "That is no good." I wanted to know why things were thus.' Mazower himself is faithful to this precept, and it is one of the reasons why he has written a modern classic.
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