Balkan Ghosts

Robert D. Kaplan, a journalist, sets out across the Balkans and records what he sees along the way. His route takes him through Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, and he meets the people who live in these places. Woven through his travels is the region's long history, with its shifting borders, competing nationalisms and old ethnic rivalries.

Kaplan argues that the past is never truly past in this part of the world. He connects the events of earlier centuries to the tensions he finds in each country, showing how inherited resentments and loyalties shape everyday life and political choices.

The book suits readers interested in Eastern Europe, the history of the Balkans, or the roots of ethnic conflict, as well as those who enjoy travel writing that looks closely at a place's history.