In this exceptionally original story, Mark Mazower dismantles the current Western clichés about the Balkans and, instead of reproducing its stereotypes, vividly describes how mountains, empires, and religions shaped the lives of the region's inhabitants. A bridge between Europe and Asia, the Balkans were exposed to continuous invasions by nomadic peoples over the centuries. The mountain ranges made farming difficult and political control impossible, while allowing small communities to live side by side until the late twentieth century. Empires based on religion rather than ethnic identity shaped customs and beliefs in a way that did not completely disappear with the advent of the modern world. Mazower's narrative spans a wide range, both temporally—from the Romans to the present day, with intermediate stops in the Byzantine and Ottoman past—and spatially, treating the former Ottoman territories in Europe as part of a complex yet common historical heritage. Mazower, one of the prominent British historians of modern Europe, has written an exceptionally rich and substantial book, which not only provides an absolutely necessary historical and cultural background for understanding today's Balkan political reality but also offers the reader a new perspective on this region's relations with Europe as a whole. [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]