Yugoslavia and Macedonia Before Tito - (Library of Balkan Studies) by Nada Boskovska (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Held together by apparatchiks and, later, Tito's charisma, Yugoslavia never really incorporated separate Balkan nationalisms into the Pan-Slavic ideal. Macedonia - frequently ignored by Belgrade - had survived centuries of Turkish domination, Bulgarian invasion and Serbian assimilation before it became part of the Yugoslav project in the aftermath of the First World War. Drawing on an extensive analysis of archival material, private correspondence, and newspaper articles, Nada Boskovska provides an arresting account of the Macedonian experience of the interwar years, charting the growth of political consciousness and the often violent state-driven attempts to curb autonomy. Sketching the complex picture of nationalism within a multi-ethnic, but unitarist state through a comprehensive analysis of policy, economy, and education, Yugoslavia and Macedonia before Tito is the first book to describe the uneasy and often turbulent relationship between a Serbian-dominated government and an increasingly politically aware Macedonian people.
Concerned with the question of integration and political manipulation, Boskovska gives credence to voices critical of Royal Yugoslavia and offers a fresh insight into domestic policy and the Macedonian question, going beyond traditional high politics. Broadening the spectrum of discussion and protest, she reveals the voices of a people protesting constitutional and electoral fraud, the neglect of local needs and state machinations designed to create a satellite province.

About the Author

Nada Boskovska is Professor of History at the University of Zurich. She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Jahrbucher fur Geschichte Osteuropas and has led several research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. She is a member of the board of the Foundation for the Advancement of Studies in Hungarian History, Language and Culture, a member of the advisory board of the Felix Kanitz Society and has organized several international conferences on the Yugoslav/Balkan region. A specialist in Central European and Southeast European history, she is the Editor of two book series' (Beitrage zur Geschichte der Russlandschweizer; Die Schweiz und der Osten Europas) and a Co-editor of the book series Zurcher Beitrage zur Geschichtswissenschaft. She has also authored two German-language monographs