Reviews for Tito : And the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia

The average rating for Tito : And the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-11-11 00:00:00 Tiffany Flores This is an excellent book. So, there have been many books written about Yugoslavia, why and how and why not, but Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia (TatRaFoY) does a particularly good job of giving you a wealth of unsung details that you don't get elsewhere. The book follows the life of Tito, the well-known leader of Communist Yugoslavia, with intricate and intimate stories about his early life, his participation in WWI, the life in Soviet Union, the return to the Yugoslav Kingdom, WWII (the bulk of the book), and then the years after the war until his death in 1980. The author then also follows the decade thereafter, and the slow - and inevitable - spiralling into the civil war of the early 90s. And unlike most other books, this one explains precisely WHY. TatRaFoY feels balanced - it gives a neutral view to a passionate topic, providing balanced and details accounts from all sides. What I found truly mesmerizing was the WWII period in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945. Richard West doesn't just breeze through - he focuses on the absurdities and atrocities of the period, the religious and ethnic strifes. I won't go into details, because that would be spoiling really fascinating elements, which then naturally continue into what happened after WWII, including fifty years later. This is a great book because it teaches a lot of colorful things and new aspects on the life of Tito, and there's always a human story (with which you can agree or not) behind actions and decisions, including friendships and animosities with old comrades, Tito's approach to wealth, his relations with the West, his love life, his attempt to reconcile hastily brushed-aside issues of WWII in the decades after. I am so tempted to go into specific details, but that would be denying the pleasure of discovering yourself when you read this fine work. Most highly recommended. Igor

Review # 2 was written on 2016-07-24 00:00:00 Brad Cox It was a communist who made this country into a haven and religious extremists who destroyed it and brought it down hell. Awesome book, an easy read and very informative and enlightening.