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Tito i drugovi - I deo
Ko je bio Josip Broz Tito i šta je stajalo u pozadini uspeha predsednika Jugoslavije? Analiza uglednog istoričara Jožeta Pirjeveca u kojoj se neke od činjenica u javnost iznose prvi put.
„U Jugoslaviji i u svetu napisano je više stotina knjiga o Titu. Pirjevčevo delo Tito i drugovi nije samo još jedna knjiga o Titu: to je do sada najkompletnija studija o njemu, uporediva sa velikim istorijskim biografijama vođa ruske revolucije Isaka Dojčera. Takvom je čine izvori na kojima se temelji, pomna rekonstrukcija vremena i prostora koji su bili dati Titu, odnosno jugoslovenskoj komunističkoj eliti; analiza Titove ličnosti, kao ključne ličnosti revolucije, njena idejna i psihološka struktura. [...]
Tito je bio i ključni činilac idejne kohezije, garant onih granica do kojih je stigla revolucija. Na tim granicama je stajala stara garda. Istorijska četvorka se krunila, ali niko, uključujući i Đilasa, nije ponudio alternativu. Uključujući i mladu gardu, kako Prijevec naziva nosioce reformatorskih tendencija u Sloveniji, Hrvatskoj i Srbiji početkom sedamdesetih godina prošloga veka. Pirjevčeva studija daje odgovor na pitanje zašto je to tako.“
Iz predgovora Latinke Perović
„U Jugoslaviji i u svetu napisano je više stotina knjiga o Titu. Pirjevčevo delo Tito i drugovi nije samo još jedna knjiga o Titu: to je do sada najkompletnija studija o njemu, uporediva sa velikim istorijskim biografijama vođa ruske revolucije Isaka Dojčera. Takvom je čine izvori na kojima se temelji, pomna rekonstrukcija vremena i prostora koji su bili dati Titu, odnosno jugoslovenskoj komunističkoj eliti; analiza Titove ličnosti, kao ključne ličnosti revolucije, njena idejna i psihološka struktura. [...]
Tito je bio i ključni činilac idejne kohezije, garant onih granica do kojih je stigla revolucija. Na tim granicama je stajala stara garda. Istorijska četvorka se krunila, ali niko, uključujući i Đilasa, nije ponudio alternativu. Uključujući i mladu gardu, kako Prijevec naziva nosioce reformatorskih tendencija u Sloveniji, Hrvatskoj i Srbiji početkom sedamdesetih godina prošloga veka. Pirjevčeva studija daje odgovor na pitanje zašto je to tako.“
Iz predgovora Latinke Perović
564 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 2, 2019
This is as close as you can get to a definitive biography of Marshall Tito and the Partisan leaders who built and ran Yugoslavia over a half century. Unlike the aristocrats who ran many other countries, Tito came from the humblest of origins, growing up in bitter rural poverty. He rose through the ranks of the Yugoslav Communist Party during its underground phase in WWI and emerged as a leader during the next great war. He was the only commander-in-chief of any WWII army to be injured during the conflict, narrowly escaping death several times. Tito started his life in an overcrowded hut wearing cow-dung “shoes” for warmth and ended as one of the most powerful and admired of world leaders. Even an academic biography of such a person can’t help but be remarkable.
Tito's hard life was reflected in the hard way that he led his country. There were purges, executions, a notorious prison camp at Goli Otok and ruthless intrigue within his inner circle. He had the poor person’s intense fascination with material goods and luxury, an appetite that remained unsated throughout his decades in power, Despite all this, he was not a tyrant. Yugoslavia became a developed country under his watch; even an esteemed one. Yugoslavs could travel the world freely and compare their standard of living to others. They could consume media from wherever they chose and did not need to be bludgeoned to maintain order. Yugoslav Communism repressed dissent, but it also repressed the demon of ethnonationalism. After Tito died his old Chetnik and Ustaše enemies from WWII sprang back to life and destroyed Yugoslavia forever. To this day many mourn the lost unity that Tito’s country embodied, for all its flaws.
This book rekindled some of my latent sympathies for the Communists of the 20th century, many of whom were genuinely heroic and admirable regardless of the ultimate shortcomings of their system. Kardelj, Djilas, Rankovic, Popovic and Tito's other "comrades" are all depicted here with their various strengths and flaws. Yugoslavia did well economically, but it was also the beneficiary of generous aid and loans from both the Soviets and the West. For decades Tito managed to balance the two camps against one another. It often seemed like this was by chance rather than calculation — he had genuine falling outs and rapprochements with both sides at different times. He helped build the Non-Aligned movement and made Yugoslavia one of the most strategically important countries in the world. Tito genuinely supported Third World liberation movements and made his country a valued interlocutor to many different parties. Yugoslavia was not a huge country, but it punched well above its weight in terms of influence. The same overachieving dynamic at play during WWII when Tito's Partisans emerged as an internationally-respected military force carried over into decades of skillful peacetime diplomacy. Tito's Partisans were the extremely rare resistance movement that was also capable of governing upon victory. Quite an accomplishment for someone of such inauspicious origins.
There are some people I’ve met in my life, in places like Kurdistan, Egypt and Bosnia, who I would describe as “unkillable". They are people who have come to the brink of violent death so many times — shot, blown up, battered — that they are no longer intimidated by it. Their experiences have given them a steeliness and self-assurance that you simply cannot find in the average person. From these pages, I gathered that Tito was a person like this. The book starts, somewhat curiously, with a lengthy description of his eyes. They were the eyes of someone who grew up around a lot of death, relentlessly fighting until he rose to a point where no further increase was possible. It took people like that to create a country like Yugoslavia. It was destroyed later on by those who were lesser.
Tito's hard life was reflected in the hard way that he led his country. There were purges, executions, a notorious prison camp at Goli Otok and ruthless intrigue within his inner circle. He had the poor person’s intense fascination with material goods and luxury, an appetite that remained unsated throughout his decades in power, Despite all this, he was not a tyrant. Yugoslavia became a developed country under his watch; even an esteemed one. Yugoslavs could travel the world freely and compare their standard of living to others. They could consume media from wherever they chose and did not need to be bludgeoned to maintain order. Yugoslav Communism repressed dissent, but it also repressed the demon of ethnonationalism. After Tito died his old Chetnik and Ustaše enemies from WWII sprang back to life and destroyed Yugoslavia forever. To this day many mourn the lost unity that Tito’s country embodied, for all its flaws.
This book rekindled some of my latent sympathies for the Communists of the 20th century, many of whom were genuinely heroic and admirable regardless of the ultimate shortcomings of their system. Kardelj, Djilas, Rankovic, Popovic and Tito's other "comrades" are all depicted here with their various strengths and flaws. Yugoslavia did well economically, but it was also the beneficiary of generous aid and loans from both the Soviets and the West. For decades Tito managed to balance the two camps against one another. It often seemed like this was by chance rather than calculation — he had genuine falling outs and rapprochements with both sides at different times. He helped build the Non-Aligned movement and made Yugoslavia one of the most strategically important countries in the world. Tito genuinely supported Third World liberation movements and made his country a valued interlocutor to many different parties. Yugoslavia was not a huge country, but it punched well above its weight in terms of influence. The same overachieving dynamic at play during WWII when Tito's Partisans emerged as an internationally-respected military force carried over into decades of skillful peacetime diplomacy. Tito's Partisans were the extremely rare resistance movement that was also capable of governing upon victory. Quite an accomplishment for someone of such inauspicious origins.
There are some people I’ve met in my life, in places like Kurdistan, Egypt and Bosnia, who I would describe as “unkillable". They are people who have come to the brink of violent death so many times — shot, blown up, battered — that they are no longer intimidated by it. Their experiences have given them a steeliness and self-assurance that you simply cannot find in the average person. From these pages, I gathered that Tito was a person like this. The book starts, somewhat curiously, with a lengthy description of his eyes. They were the eyes of someone who grew up around a lot of death, relentlessly fighting until he rose to a point where no further increase was possible. It took people like that to create a country like Yugoslavia. It was destroyed later on by those who were lesser.
June 30, 2019
This is not only a definitive biography of Tito but a fine study of Yugoslavia up to his death. I studied Eastern Europe and the Balkans as a graduate student in political science, so I was excited to learn so much more detail in this book. It is written in a style that should be accessible to most people who enjoy reading about history.
Josef Broz Tito was unique. He alone defied Stalin for many years -- and survived despite many assassination attempts, a number of them surely initiated by Stalin. Tito was also targeted for assassination by Hitler. Tito organized against the Nazis before the Hitler-Stalin Nonaggression Pact and was infuriated by it. Even when the Soviet Union entered the war after Germany attacked it, it failed to arm Yugoslav partisans as Tito had expected. So Tito went to the British for arms.
Yugoslavia was the only country in Eastern Europe and the Balkans that did more to liberate itself than the Soviet Union did to liberate it. Consequently, Tito was able to maneuver to keep his country mostly independent from the Soviet Union. This book tells how he managed that, and continued to manage that for the next thirty years, although the Soviets were always secretly ready to invade if there was an opportunity.
Tito was the originator of the non-aligned movement of nations that declared themselves independent of the West and the Soviet bloc. He did a great deal to help revolutionaries in Africa and Asia.
Nevertheless, he received a great deal of aid from the United States and other western countries because of his independence from the Soviet Union.
But Tito was a strongman. In the aftermath of World War II, he killed many Croats and Serbs who had collaborated with the Nazis or opposed his rule, and many who had not. Yugoslavia was in some ways a proponent of a more liberal version of Communism, but Tito constantly veered between favoring liberals and favoring more traditional Communists. He believed that maintaining strong central control was necessary to keep the various nationalities from breaking off, and he was probably correct in that.
He was Croatian, but many of his policies disfavored the Croats and the Slovenes, who were more developed, and sent revenue from their parts of the country to poorer areas, especially to the Serbs, whom he feared. But many Serbs resented him because of his purges.
This book focuses almost entirely on Tito's political life, but towards the end it has revealing details about his five marriages, especially about his last wife, Jovanka. Jovanka loved luxury and control. She apparently hoped to be his successor. She was young and strong, and he was old and weak. He confided to his colleagues that at night he hid in the bathroom to avoid her, so they sent her off to a sanatorium. The couple was separated after that, though Tito refused to divorce her. The thought of the old man who controlled a country being perhaps an abused spouse is poignant.
Of course, Yugoslavia fell apart after he died. Could he have managed it better and prevented that? That is far from certain.
Josef Broz Tito was unique. He alone defied Stalin for many years -- and survived despite many assassination attempts, a number of them surely initiated by Stalin. Tito was also targeted for assassination by Hitler. Tito organized against the Nazis before the Hitler-Stalin Nonaggression Pact and was infuriated by it. Even when the Soviet Union entered the war after Germany attacked it, it failed to arm Yugoslav partisans as Tito had expected. So Tito went to the British for arms.
Yugoslavia was the only country in Eastern Europe and the Balkans that did more to liberate itself than the Soviet Union did to liberate it. Consequently, Tito was able to maneuver to keep his country mostly independent from the Soviet Union. This book tells how he managed that, and continued to manage that for the next thirty years, although the Soviets were always secretly ready to invade if there was an opportunity.
Tito was the originator of the non-aligned movement of nations that declared themselves independent of the West and the Soviet bloc. He did a great deal to help revolutionaries in Africa and Asia.
Nevertheless, he received a great deal of aid from the United States and other western countries because of his independence from the Soviet Union.
But Tito was a strongman. In the aftermath of World War II, he killed many Croats and Serbs who had collaborated with the Nazis or opposed his rule, and many who had not. Yugoslavia was in some ways a proponent of a more liberal version of Communism, but Tito constantly veered between favoring liberals and favoring more traditional Communists. He believed that maintaining strong central control was necessary to keep the various nationalities from breaking off, and he was probably correct in that.
He was Croatian, but many of his policies disfavored the Croats and the Slovenes, who were more developed, and sent revenue from their parts of the country to poorer areas, especially to the Serbs, whom he feared. But many Serbs resented him because of his purges.
This book focuses almost entirely on Tito's political life, but towards the end it has revealing details about his five marriages, especially about his last wife, Jovanka. Jovanka loved luxury and control. She apparently hoped to be his successor. She was young and strong, and he was old and weak. He confided to his colleagues that at night he hid in the bathroom to avoid her, so they sent her off to a sanatorium. The couple was separated after that, though Tito refused to divorce her. The thought of the old man who controlled a country being perhaps an abused spouse is poignant.
Of course, Yugoslavia fell apart after he died. Could he have managed it better and prevented that? That is far from certain.
July 9, 2016
Veoma dobra i uravnotežena biografija. Uprkos tome, i on se poziva na neke neprofesionalne senzacionalističke izvore, poput knjiga Pere Simića i Marka Lopušine. To malo kvari opšti utisak o knjizi, ali može se oprostiti ako autor nije upoznat sa pozadinom tih ljudi i brojnim metodološkim greškama koje prave u svojim delima. U svakom slučaju je knjiga više nego vredna čitanja. Sadrži puno anegdota koje knjigu čine zanimljivom za čitanje čak i onima koji se ne interesuju toliko za istoriju.
Takođe, kapitaliste iz Lagune ne bi ubilo da su angažovali lektora i nekoga ko će napraviti registar imena. Ali to već nije autorova krivica.
Takođe, kapitaliste iz Lagune ne bi ubilo da su angažovali lektora i nekoga ko će napraviti registar imena. Ali to već nije autorova krivica.
September 3, 2015
Izjemno delo. Prvic marsikaj novega iz moskovskih in zahodnih arhivov, drugic zelo lepo berljiv stil, ki znanstveno delo priblizuje literaturi.
June 23, 2019
At first I was sorely disappointed since it discussed nothing of his time with the Jackson 5...
Both 1984 Olympics were distinctive moments in my knowledge of Yugoslavia. The winter Olympics were in Sarajevo, then a backwater city in the federation rather than the site of bloody war. And then at the Summer games in LA, the Yugoslav team was the only European communist country other than Romania to take part. At 10 years old, Tito was only a name to me. But these two Olympics gave the impression that Yugoslavia were "good communists" and their nation was a real country rather than merely a communist conglomeration.
I - and many others - was wrong.
How did those good communists of 1984 turn into the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s? This book enlightens that a bit.
Tito and the Yugoslav communist party emerged from WWII with the fourth largest military in Europe and the only independently founded communist state other than the Soviets. But, politically and economically, it faced major challenges. The red star in the flag was an excellent example of the issues faced politically. Like a star it faced the external pressure from both the Socialist Camp and the Western Allies that may force it to collapse and the internal pressure from the Republics that may have forced it to explode in ethnic separatism. Economically, Yugoslavia was as ravaged as the rest of Europe, but without major benefactors of the Comecon or Marshall plan it didn't have the resources to rebuild.
Tito stood between the rock of NATO and the hard place of the Warsaw pact. He attempted to play off both sides and to maintain party control over the republics but give enough self management to control to produce a safety valve to ethnic rivalries. Economically he was able to use loans and aid to improve the lives of Yugoslavs.
Yet through it, he had to maintain his position. Externally he had to parry attacks from from right-wing groups of Croatian expats based in the West and threats from the Eastern bloc. Internally he had to continually isolate and expel internal opponents.
Like most - or all - "democratic centralist" parties, the LCY slowly became less democratic and more centralist. Through the 1950s and 1960s dreams of Tito stepping down and handing over the reins - or reign - to younger cadres were constantly thwarted. By the 1970s, a weakened Tito ruled as everyone around him attempted to merely prepare for his death.
Some may merely argue this is the old Lord Acton dictum - "absolute power corrupts absolutely." And others may point that in an Aristotelian model that all democratic centralist parties degenerate to authoritarianism. The dictatorship of the proletariat becomes the dictatorship of the party in the name of the proletariat becomes the dictatorship of the party secretary. However, Pirjevec argues there is more.
The party leader here, fell into senility and paranoia. And as by 1974, he was the only person with roles in party and state, he was the only one who could handle things. The Constitution of 1974 was a dead letter and led to individualist rule at the whims but also the interest of only Tito. While it appears that the decline of Yugoslavia started with Tito's death, Pirjevec points to a hollow shell of party and state that Tito left once his personal rule ended.
Could anyone else have led Yugoslavia so long without it breaking up into different Republics? Could anyone have led Yugoslavia without succumbing to the pressures East and West? We don't know; but we do know the state Tito bequeathed could not. Pirjevec shows how the image of "good communists" is shattered by a failure to build a state based on anything other than personal rule.
Both 1984 Olympics were distinctive moments in my knowledge of Yugoslavia. The winter Olympics were in Sarajevo, then a backwater city in the federation rather than the site of bloody war. And then at the Summer games in LA, the Yugoslav team was the only European communist country other than Romania to take part. At 10 years old, Tito was only a name to me. But these two Olympics gave the impression that Yugoslavia were "good communists" and their nation was a real country rather than merely a communist conglomeration.
I - and many others - was wrong.
How did those good communists of 1984 turn into the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s? This book enlightens that a bit.
Tito and the Yugoslav communist party emerged from WWII with the fourth largest military in Europe and the only independently founded communist state other than the Soviets. But, politically and economically, it faced major challenges. The red star in the flag was an excellent example of the issues faced politically. Like a star it faced the external pressure from both the Socialist Camp and the Western Allies that may force it to collapse and the internal pressure from the Republics that may have forced it to explode in ethnic separatism. Economically, Yugoslavia was as ravaged as the rest of Europe, but without major benefactors of the Comecon or Marshall plan it didn't have the resources to rebuild.
Tito stood between the rock of NATO and the hard place of the Warsaw pact. He attempted to play off both sides and to maintain party control over the republics but give enough self management to control to produce a safety valve to ethnic rivalries. Economically he was able to use loans and aid to improve the lives of Yugoslavs.
Yet through it, he had to maintain his position. Externally he had to parry attacks from from right-wing groups of Croatian expats based in the West and threats from the Eastern bloc. Internally he had to continually isolate and expel internal opponents.
Like most - or all - "democratic centralist" parties, the LCY slowly became less democratic and more centralist. Through the 1950s and 1960s dreams of Tito stepping down and handing over the reins - or reign - to younger cadres were constantly thwarted. By the 1970s, a weakened Tito ruled as everyone around him attempted to merely prepare for his death.
Some may merely argue this is the old Lord Acton dictum - "absolute power corrupts absolutely." And others may point that in an Aristotelian model that all democratic centralist parties degenerate to authoritarianism. The dictatorship of the proletariat becomes the dictatorship of the party in the name of the proletariat becomes the dictatorship of the party secretary. However, Pirjevec argues there is more.
The party leader here, fell into senility and paranoia. And as by 1974, he was the only person with roles in party and state, he was the only one who could handle things. The Constitution of 1974 was a dead letter and led to individualist rule at the whims but also the interest of only Tito. While it appears that the decline of Yugoslavia started with Tito's death, Pirjevec points to a hollow shell of party and state that Tito left once his personal rule ended.
Could anyone else have led Yugoslavia so long without it breaking up into different Republics? Could anyone have led Yugoslavia without succumbing to the pressures East and West? We don't know; but we do know the state Tito bequeathed could not. Pirjevec shows how the image of "good communists" is shattered by a failure to build a state based on anything other than personal rule.
March 14, 2017
Tito is one of the most important historical figures in the 20th century, so it is only naturally his life is going to be written again and again.
This book could be summarized with words: "History is nothing but the biography of Great man."
You can't talk about a history of Yugoslavia, Non-Aligned Movement and so much more without including Tito.
Book nicely flows through the years of his life while inserting biographies of his closest associates, it is long book but it is never boring, well all credits can't go to Pirjevac, Tito gave him a lot of material.
War criminal, hero, dictator, president, Croat, Yugoslav, communist, pragmatist, rebel and so much more, it would be understatement to call Tito controversal.
After almost 40 years since his death people are still talking about him, what he was, what is his legacy and so on.
But no man can rule alone and Tito had Hebrang, Đilas, Kardelj, Ranković and book nicely show that this is theirs story almost as much as his.
Really like this new perspective for me, that there were more conflict between Slovenians and Serbs then Croats and Serbs at least while Ranković was in power. Maybe that is because author is from Slovenia or maybe because Kardelj and Ranković were closest to Tito.
My biggest objections is quoting Dedijer in every other page and not giving Bakarić his own chapter.
Maybe because I am Croat but I think Bakarić is never given enough credits, because for almost 40 years he was ruler of Croatia.
But what I find interesting is that Bakarić is last man standing from Titos inner circle, everybody else died or were removed from power, but even more interesting is that of all Titos closest associates Bakarić and Kardelj survived all purges and shifts of power, communists Croat and Slovenian, just like Tito.
This book could be summarized with words: "History is nothing but the biography of Great man."
You can't talk about a history of Yugoslavia, Non-Aligned Movement and so much more without including Tito.
Book nicely flows through the years of his life while inserting biographies of his closest associates, it is long book but it is never boring, well all credits can't go to Pirjevac, Tito gave him a lot of material.
War criminal, hero, dictator, president, Croat, Yugoslav, communist, pragmatist, rebel and so much more, it would be understatement to call Tito controversal.
After almost 40 years since his death people are still talking about him, what he was, what is his legacy and so on.
But no man can rule alone and Tito had Hebrang, Đilas, Kardelj, Ranković and book nicely show that this is theirs story almost as much as his.
Really like this new perspective for me, that there were more conflict between Slovenians and Serbs then Croats and Serbs at least while Ranković was in power. Maybe that is because author is from Slovenia or maybe because Kardelj and Ranković were closest to Tito.
My biggest objections is quoting Dedijer in every other page and not giving Bakarić his own chapter.
Maybe because I am Croat but I think Bakarić is never given enough credits, because for almost 40 years he was ruler of Croatia.
But what I find interesting is that Bakarić is last man standing from Titos inner circle, everybody else died or were removed from power, but even more interesting is that of all Titos closest associates Bakarić and Kardelj survived all purges and shifts of power, communists Croat and Slovenian, just like Tito.
June 27, 2024
Amazing book recounting the life of one of the 20th Century's greatest figures. I wanted to learn about Yugoslavia in preparation for an upcoming trip to the region and I wasnt disappointed. Extremely interesting account of Broz's life, starting with his early days working odd jobs, covering the unbelievable feats of the partisans during the Second World War, his break with Moscow, his work to balance Yugoslavia between the east and west, and his achievements with the non aligned movement. Originally published in 2011, I am so glad that in 2018 it was translated into English - well worth 5 stars
January 25, 2021
The best overview of Yugoslavian politics during the long Tito era I'm aware of. Deft character sketches combined with a clear presentation of the incredibly complicated politics of language, region, and political ideology.
Read
January 22, 2022Zna biti zanimljiva i dobro koncipirana, fora su mi ova tematska, a ne samo kronološka poglavlja, ali mi je ipak pouzdanija Titova biografija koju su napisali Ivo i Slavko Goldstein. Cijelog Dedijera još nisam uspjela.
July 31, 2022
Žal sem knjigo prečital na hitro in poleti, ko sem imel še druge opravke kot so izpiti in pa diploma. Potreboval bi prebrati še enkrat in nekega dne tudi bom.
November 9, 2025
By far the ultimate book on marshal Tito of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFRY. The author is the most respected Slovenian academician - historian, relying on facts and documents from the archives in Belgrade as well as other Yugoslav republican capitals.
He's impartial in describing events so people from both sides of the isle, so to speak, the left (nostalgia-filled) and the right (counter-revolutionaries) would label the book partial as they would not want to read brutal facts about those days.
This book can very well serve as the magnum opus of dr.Pirjevec, alongside his book Partizani ("The Partisans") which is also about 1,000 pages thick.
I highly recommend reading this book to anyone genuinely interested in Yugoslavia's role during WW2, its development of self-management in the 1950s and as an insight into power struggles of late 1960s, culminating in Tito's funeral in 1980 which stands out as one of the most unifying and globally resonant events of the 20th century, drawing an unprecedented gathering of over 200 dignitaries from 127 countries.
He's impartial in describing events so people from both sides of the isle, so to speak, the left (nostalgia-filled) and the right (counter-revolutionaries) would label the book partial as they would not want to read brutal facts about those days.
This book can very well serve as the magnum opus of dr.Pirjevec, alongside his book Partizani ("The Partisans") which is also about 1,000 pages thick.
I highly recommend reading this book to anyone genuinely interested in Yugoslavia's role during WW2, its development of self-management in the 1950s and as an insight into power struggles of late 1960s, culminating in Tito's funeral in 1980 which stands out as one of the most unifying and globally resonant events of the 20th century, drawing an unprecedented gathering of over 200 dignitaries from 127 countries.
March 12, 2024
Tried a couple of other biographies but they were all written by liberals that at best tolerated his politics and glossed over his policies and economic planning. This gave me a better understanding of the social schisms in the region and how this hurt and helped the Partisans during their development. Went into great detail with the Non-aligned movement. Obviously touched on Tito's upbringing but didn't get too hung up on those details.
Not that there's many options for this topic out there, but I would recommend this as a one stop shop for learning about Tito and Yugoslavia. The only criticism I have is they don't go into the break up of the country but that's clearly a whole other book. Michael Parenti's "To Kill a Nation" seems to be the book to read on this, from what I hear.
Not that there's many options for this topic out there, but I would recommend this as a one stop shop for learning about Tito and Yugoslavia. The only criticism I have is they don't go into the break up of the country but that's clearly a whole other book. Michael Parenti's "To Kill a Nation" seems to be the book to read on this, from what I hear.
March 19, 2013
An excellent - and extensive - biography of out iconographic leader. I was waiting for tlhe late years (after 60's when I was born) but discovered that he really was an icon during WWII and in 'Informbiro' years when he cleverly introduced 'neuvrščeni' and lobbied for the third block in midst of USA snd SSSR during the Cold war.
Amazing person and a marvelous effort from the author dr. Pirjevec.
Amazing person and a marvelous effort from the author dr. Pirjevec.
August 27, 2016
Spannend zu lesen, wie schon in den 1960ern der Zerfall Jugoslawiens von Tito voraus befürchtet wurde. Ebenso faszinierend zu sehen, wie es Tito gelang die Sowjetunion immer wieder vor der Einflussnahme auf sein Land zurückschrecken zu lassen. Leider ist das Buch etwas zu zitatenhaft überfrachtet.
August 7, 2016
Još bolja od prvog dela, pošto se mnogo manje služi nagađanjima i tabloidnim pseudoistorijskim izvorima "publicista".
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews