Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Cohen, a physician who researched sources never before available to the West, weaves a rich tapestry covering the last 200 years of Balkan history while emphasizing the role the Serbs played in World War II. He gives us a detailed picture of Yugoslav society and politics, with numerous ethnic groups exercising Machiavelli's dictum: "The end justifies the means." They manipulate power, quarrel and debate, and, more often than not, murder over the fate of their ethnic societies. This book is not cheerful. With few exceptions, Cohen finds the Serbs propelled by anything but the ideals of tolerance and democratic values. Detailing Serbian anti-Semitism before the war and quoting from collaborationist papers that said, "the Serbs should not wait for the Germans to begin the extermination of the Jews," he reveals how the Serbian propaganda machine attempted to promote the idea that Serbs, along with the Jews, were the victims of the Nazis. Thus, he shows that the ethnic cleansing the Serbs are engaging in today has deep roots in Serbian culture. Offering a wealth of new information, this impressive, scholarly book is highly recommended for all history collections. [To conduct his research, Cohen made four trips to the Balkans from 1992 to 1995, where he oversaw a team of native speakers who translated the relevant documents for him.?Ed.]?John Xanthopoulos, Florida Atlantic Univ., Boca Rato.
-?John Xanthopoulos, Florida Atlantic Univ., Boca Raton
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Cohen''s book is even more compelling and timely, however, for the chilling parallels linking Serbian fascists of the 1940s with those of the 1990s—not to mention those individuals who participated in the war crimes of both eras. With CNN and other media providing greater access to the ongoing genocide in Bosnia today, one hopes that Dr. Cohen''s book will not require a sequel fifty years from now."--Stephen W. Walker, Director, American Committee to Save Bosnia, former State Department official (resigned August 1993 to protest U.S. policy toward Bosnia)

(Stephen W. Walker, Director, American Committee to Save Bosnia, former State Dep )

About the Author

Philip J. Cohen, a medical doctor, has done extensive research on history and politics in the Balkans. He is widely published in scholarly journals and books."Dr. Cohen's book is of unique value because it serves two vital purposes: to document the often misunderstood and misrepresented history of Serbian nationalism and Serbian collaboration with the Nazis and to expose some of the myths used by Serbian extremists today in the former Yugoslavia to justify a new round of genocide and ethnic cleansing.' As a result, it will make the task of revisionists and war criminals all the more difficult.