The Nazism of ethnic Germans living in Romania is excused, almost sympathized with, because they were forced to live next to a barbaric people. Kaplan sees the region as a nest of ancient ethnic hatreds responsible for all of the evils of the world, including Nazism (Hitler learned hatred from the Balkan inhabitants of the flophouses of Vienna, not the thriving Western tradition of anti-semitism apparently). This is the most Orientalist, irresponsible and downright dangerous piece of writing about the Balkans ever published. In Balkan Ghosts, Kaplan is the demagogue he accuses them of being. Focusing purely on the negative is a choice and Kaplan's revolting descriptions of the places and people he sees evince a genuine revulsion for Yugoslavs and even the physical world that they inhabit. While Kaplan was actually a proponent of intervening in Yugoslavia on 'realist' grounds, he should've thought more carefully before publishing this horrifying travelogue. It would be a misleading and potentially even dangerous thing to do however if you are an influential writer who commands the attention of the most powerful people in the world. One could also travel across America focusing on its worst aspects and worst people and then write a book based on that.

Needless to say, every place in the world has good and bad. This is an ugly, insulting picture of the people of the region that continues to color the world's perception of Yugoslavia. Seeing what a relentlessly negative picture Kaplan paints of the Balkans I can see how it might psychologically influence someone to steer clear of it. involvement would be a mistake - stricken as Yugoslavia was with 'ancient hatreds'.

The book was credited with influencing his thinking that U.S.

Bill Clinton was famously seen holding a copy of Balkan Ghosts around the time he made his decision not to intervene in the wars. After having finally read it however I can see why people feel this way. Being a Robert Kaplan apologist I always took this as a bit of colorful hyperbole. Someone once told me that this book was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.

Kaplan balkan ghosts