 Best Sellers | | Home Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars | |
|  | |  | | | Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars | | | | | SKU:
1002-WS1101-A03010-0847698203 | | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars is a chronicle of poet and critic Christopher Merrill's ten war-time journeys to the Balkans from the years 1992 through 1996. At once a travelogue, a book of war reportage, and a biography of the imagination under siege, this beautifully written and personal narrative takes the reader along on the author's journeys to all the provinces and republics of the former Yugoslavia—Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina—as well as to Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Turkey. His journeys provide the narrative structure for an exploration of the roles and responsibility of intellectuals caught up in a decisive historical moment, many of whom either helped to incite the war or else bore eloquent witness to its carnage. What separates this book-the first non-native literary work on the conflict-from other collections of reportage, political analysis, and polemic, is its concern for capturing the texture of particular places in the midst of dramatic change-the sounds and sights and smells, the stories and observations of victim and perpetrator alike, the culture of war. Here is a literary meditation on war, a fascinating portrait of the poetry, politics and the people of the Balkans that will provide insight into the past, present, and future of those war-torn lands.
Hear an interview with the author on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered, February 20th, "Balkan Poets." | | | |
List Price:
| $30.95 | |
Our Price:
| $22.59
& eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
| |
You Save:
| $8.36 (27%)
|
| | |
|
| | Product Details | | Author: | Christopher Merrill | | Hardcover: | 424 pages | | Publisher: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | | Publication Date: | September 29, 1999 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0847698203 | | Product Length: | 0.93 inches | | Product Width: | 0.62 inches | | Product Height: | 0.11 inches | | Product Weight: | 1.5 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.35 inches | | Package Width: | 6.24 inches | | Package Height: | 1.16 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.5 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 5 reviews |
| |
| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 5 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Insubstantial fluff Dec 01, 2000
By Edward Bosnar
Generally I stopped reading books on the Balkans and the former Yugoslavia written by passersby (or perhaps a better word would be "passers-through") a few years ago because they are largely uninformative and self-serving. The only reason I picked this one up is because I met and briefly spoke with the author in Zagreb in late 1992. He made a very favorable impression on me; I found him quite intelligent and likable, and was therefore interested in his account of his trips to the Balkans. I wish I hadn't bothered. "Only the Nails" differs little from books written by various superficial journalists, writers, poets and other "truth-seekers." It follows the general framework established by Robert Kaplan's inane "Balkan Ghosts" and continued in various forms by Peter Maass, Janine DiGiovanni, Martin Bell and scores of others. To his credit, Merrill faithfully reproduces the many conversations he held with friends and acquaintances in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, etc. and some of these are very interesting. However, this hardly makes up for the book's glaring shortcomings: from factual errors that riddle the entire book (e.g. the frequent misspelling of place-names, inaccurate dates or misplacing of events) to the author's forays into history which are often misleading (e.g. he says Serbia started both of the pre-WWI Balkans Wars, which is untrue; or Bulgaria only gained independence in 1908, again, not completely accurate). Much of this could have been corrected by less-indulgent editors and even the most perfunctory consultation of dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias or the very sources cited in Merrill's bibliography - which he obviously read quite superficially. Also troubling was Merrill's tendency, at least in Croatia, to play the typical war tourist, getting some knowledgable locals to take him close to the frontlines so he could observe wartime destruction and its sorrowful victims (playing guide to ignorant and often obnoxious free-lance reporters and photographers is something in which I have quite a bit of experience). He even has the cheek to say he became "bored" with the (understandable) bitterness of his two Croatian guides, both of whom had first-hand experience of Croatia's bloody and now largely forgotten war in 1991. In fact, the motive for his frequent trips to Sarajevo go largely unexplained, except that the author at some level liked the rush of being in a city under siege (he indirectly admits this toward the end of the book). In the end, this book is just a mish-mash of the author's impressions, which offer little in the way of explaining anything, much less the underlying causes or motivations that led to the Third Balkan War.
5 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Making Sense of History Jul 04, 2000
By SunshineGirl
Readers of Merrill's book will find it useful for making sense of the events in the former Yugoslavia -- a region with too much history for its own good. Anyone who questioned how neighbors could end up at opposite ends of a gun will find answers here. Merrill explores cultural history -- the stories and sentiments that bind a people despite the political borders -- as he seeks to answer for himself how such barbaric and senseless destruction could happen. This book offers insights rarely found in contemporary writings on the Balkans.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Deeply flawed and shallow Feb 12, 2005
Serbia began both pre-World War One Balkan Wars? What?
I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend who and only read Balkan ghosts and wo knew I had done my degree work on the early 20th century Balkans.
I can only say this book is profoundly flawed throughout from a factual standpoint. I almost thought it was a parody of a some kind of alien tourguide offering simply made up facts in order to showcase attempts at poetic prose.
If an writer wishes to experience the "rush" of war tourism or needs some venue to showcase their prose that is ok, but to distort and revise history in the process is problematic.
11 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 Ignore the Preceding Review - This Is A Noteworthy Book Jun 19, 2000
By Robert J. Burdick
The previous review, by someone who admits to not reading the book, should be wholly discounted. Although no current book on the Balkans can compete with Robert D. Kaplan's incomparable "Balkan Ghosts," Christopher Merrill eloquently describes the mood, psychology, and turmoil of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. I only wish that the book were a bit heavier on the historical background. However, it is refreshing to read a more human account of the effects of post-modern progress than the usual detached historical rendering. Merrill's work is to be praised, an attitude which can only be adopted after actually reading the book.
9 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Typical American War Tourist Jun 07, 2000
By Mark Nuckols
I read only the chapter titled "Ljubljana I," and decided to skip Ljubljana II et cetera. I have lived for some time in Slovenia, and only a smug and ignorant American academic could describe Ljubljana in the manner this author does. It appears that he decided to travel to the "dark heart of the Balkans" to "confront the brutal realities of human life" and search for "the elusive truths" blahblahblahblahblah. If you want to understand the Balkans, skip this turkey of a book. For that matter, skip Rebecca West as well, the obvious template for this silly book, and go straight to Ivo Andric.
| |
| |
| |  | |  |
|
Recently Viewed | You may also like ... |
