A confederacy of peasants

Re-reading a loved book months or years after the first read, is for me often a very different experience from the initial read.  

My interest in Yugoslavia began with what is acclaimed as one of the great books of the 20th century, Rebecca West's, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. The back cover blurb from The Times describes it as: "A masterpiece. As astonishing in its range, in the subtlety and power of its judgement, as it is brilliant in expression." Upon my first read, many years ago, it was all that and more.

If you haven't read (or even heard of) it, BLGF is about Ms West's journey through Yugoslavia in 1937 where she and her husband experienced the land, its peoples, and its political and historic tensions. Though it describes a period 78 years past, it's not hard to see the 1990s Yugoslavia in Ms. West's tea leaves. 

Underlying my first reading of BLGF was the history of the Serbs. I have an affinity for the underdog, the geopolitical "losers." For much of their history Serbs have gotten the short straw. Serbs like the Poles have a similar problem: "Location, Location, Location." And like other Balkan nations they have been dominated, manipulated, and ruthlessly exploited by the great powers. 

In anticipation of our trip I pulled out BLGF for a refresher. This reading experience was not the same as the first. For one thing, how did I miss the casual racism common to many in the '40's? And whereas the convoluted run-on sentences once challenged me in a positive way, this time I wasn't so thrilled. The book hasn't changed, it is what it always was. It's me that has changed, and the lesson in that is to always read critically. Still, BLGF is a great book and is indispensable for understanding Yugoslavia.

The picture is of the books I hoped to read before our trip. I've actually read: The Enemy at the Gate: Hapsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe, Ivo Andric's, The Bridge on the Drina (for which Andric won the Nobel Prize for Literature), Jim Bartley's, Drina Bridge and most recently (as in this summer) Makarska. I'm currently reading Misha Glenny's The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999. I've skimmed Cirkovic's, the Serbs. I haven't--and likely won't in the next 3 weeks--read Hitler's New Disorder or Croatia: A Nation Forged in War. 

The title of this post, A confederacy of peasants, is a chapter title in Glenny's, The Balkans. The confederacy is that of Serbs south of Belgrade that successfully challenged Ottoman rule in 1804.