Abstract: Dejan Djokić has written an important new book, a complete history of Serbs and Serbia from the initial Balkan migration to the present decades since the wars of Yugoslavia’s dissolution. Although one of the new Concise Histories from Cambridge University Press, covering this long history requires a long book. Well written and well argued, it balances the core of Serb identity against discontinuities. They range from Tsar Dušan’s over-expanded empire and Ottoman occupation to revolt and independence, followed by occupation in two world wars and inclusion in the two Yugoslavias.

Keywords: migration, empire, nation-state, independence, occupation

Summary

Dejan Djokić, a Serbian scholar long tenured at Goldsmiths College, the University of London, has written an impressive new history of Serbs and Serbia for the Cambridge University Press series of country histories. Longer than the other Concise Histories, the volume’s introduction and eight chapters move from the initial Serb migration into the Balkans to the two decades since the wars of Yugoslavia’s dissolution. The chapters address social and cultural history as well as politics and regional relations. Frequent footnotes cite relevant Serbian and foreign scholarship. An English language bibliography is appended. The author pays special attention to the discontinuities that have confronted the core Serbian settlement from its own over-expanded empire and long Ottoman occupation to migration, revolt and independence, followed by foreign occupation in two world wars and inclusion in two Yugoslavias.