A biography of Baron Mihajlo Mikasinovic, a general of Serbian origin in the Austrian Army, provides an insight into the context of the mid-eighteenth century lives of Serbs on the Military Frontier ("Vojna Krajina") of Austro-Hungary and the many-sided aspects of their struggle. The key dimension of this struggle is found in the role of ethnic Serb officers in the military organization and campaigns of this part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.  -Branko Mikasinovich **** Those who review books, and those who write them, know — or hope in their core — that books can change lives, change entire societies; change worlds. Anyone who covered the decade of conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s, and saw the dismemberment of Yugoslavia and its peoples, knew that the conduct and outcomes of the wars could have — would have — been different ... if only the right people in politics and the media in Europe and North America had read their history.  .......... The brief and wonderfully readable Baron Mihajlo Mikasinovic by Croatian-born Serb Djuro Zatezalo is one such book which could have helped create more rational and understanding sentiments toward the various peoples of what was to become Yugoslavia. It may seem arcane to suggest that a biography of an 18th Century nobleman, fighting on the marches of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, could have changed 20th Century policy. But so it could. Indeed, the truly noble Baron left a legacy thrusting into the 21st Century for that same area where he was born and became a heroic, inspiring figure.  .......... The book on Baron Mihajlo Mikasinovic shows clearly the underlying strand of history which destroyed the career of the Baron — to the detriment of the Empire — and also was later to lead to the war in Yugoslavia and cause a modern Croatia to be born in the ignominy of Ustaše misdeeds instead of in the natural flowering of independence. Today’s Croatia is attempting to re-balance the society away from the extremists, and the fact that Croatian-born Serb Djuro Zatezalo was able to remain in that territory and write his brief biography of the Baron is testimony to the return of moderation to Zagreb. The book begins with a preface entitled “Perseverence in the Orthodox Faith”, by Serbian Orthodox Bishop Gerasim of the Upper Karlovac Diocese, and starts: The Military Border era [the “marches”; hence the origin of the noble quasi-military rank of marquess — Ed.] is an important chapter in the history of the Habsburg monarchy. The Krajina region [of Croatia] played a rôle in defending the [Austro-Hungarian] state’s borders from the beginning of the 16th to the end of the 17th century. The Krajina continued to have a stake in the Austrian wars in the Balkans and in Central and Western Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The name of Mikasinovic was to live on, not only in the residents of at least three hamlets (as the author notes) in Donje and Gornje Dubrave areas, but in a subsequent Lt.-Gen. Mikasinovic of the communist Yugoslav People’s Army. And in Branko Mikasinovich, now living in the United States and determined to bring Djuro Zatezalo’s book into an English-speaking world. Branko Mikasinovich worked not only to edit the sensitive translation by Marjorie Mikasen, but also to actually research and bring out the appropriate meanings of the various Austrian ranks and military terms of the period. This is an easily-digestible book which reaches any reader who recognizes that, in the prosecution of the wars of the 1990s in the Balkans (and, even, in World War II), there was something missing from the international communities’ understanding of the complexities of the area and its people. It is not yet over: the transforming Greater Black Sea region, and the unrest within Turkey (and its present leader’s anti-Atatürk dream of a new Ottomanism), make the Balkans, and therefore Europe, still vulnerable.  So, even now, Zatezalo’s book may find its mark in open minds.  — Gregory R. Copley

Baron Mihajlo Mikasinovic

Biographies & Memoirs

Zatezalo, Djuro

Roksandic, Drago

Marjanic, Daniel

Leaders & Notable People

New Avenue Books

An anthology of Serbian fantastic stories. Authors: Milovan Glisic, Janko Veselinovic, Milos Crnjanski, Momcilo Nastasijevic, Rastko Petrovic, Dobrica Cosic, Milorad Pavic, Borislav Pekic, Miodrag Bulatovic, Drago Kekanovic, Dejan Stojanovic

Serbian Fantastic Prose

Literature & Fiction

Mikasinovich, Branko

Literary

AUTHORS presented in this anthology are Branislav Nušić (The Deceased), Djordje Lebović (Hallelujah), Aleksandar Obrenović (The Bird), Aleksandar Popović (Hats Off!), Ljubomir Simović (The Traveling Troupe Šopalović), Dušan Kovačević (Balkan Spy), Siniša Kovačević (Times Have Changed), Nebojša Romčević (Caroline Neuber), Biljana Srbljanović (Barbelo, on Dogs and Children), Milena Marković (A Boat for Dolls).*****Modern Serbia's theatrical drama began in 1804, when Serb leader Đorđe Petrović, also known as Karađorđe (1762-1817), liberated Serbia from the Ottoman Empire. This volume follows the culmination of a long and progressively successful tradition of the dramatic arts in the country, leading to the zenith of Serbian dramaturgy in the twentieth century. The theatre's limited achievements in the eighteenth century were the result of the Serbian people's negative and sarcastic perception of theatre as an institution. Yet this attitude changed in the subsequent two centuries, when plays based on the concept of realism--both political and social--became popular, contributing to the development of the country's dramaturgy and theatre. Selected writers from this modern period include Branislav Nušić, Dušan Kovačević, Biljana Srbljanović, and Milena Marković--names readily recognized by today's Serbian theatre-goers. The choice of authors for inclusion in this anthology is based on their acknowledged reputations and individual excellence in areas of topical significance, theatrical innovation, continuous performance and acclaim, and enduring truth and message.-Branko Mikasinovich*****After Tito died in 1980, the Yugoslavian government tried to pretend nothing had changed. Their motto was "After Tito - Tito". The rules may have become less strictly enforced, but their presence still hung in the air. Holding on to the days of Tito, of course, proved more aspirational than actual. Without him, the economic imbalance between different regions continued to grow more severe and the historical grudges between ethnic groups floated back to the surface, making the eventual dissolution of the country, in retrospect, seem like a foregone conclusion. Milošević, eventually, was a poor imitation of Tito - and, where Tito controlled political subversion with a nuanced cleverness, Milošević lost control of it through a brazen arrogance. This allowed for a short period of more explicitly political and defiant works. Nothing of that nature, however, is included in this collection. The socio-political connections within the most contemporary works in the collection, Barbelo and A Ship For Dolls, are less local in their concerns - responding with a wider attack on the human condition within the 21st century. The theatrical imagination at work within these plays provokes and inspires simultaneously . . . Though not about to compete yet on an international scale with the likes of NewYork or London, Belgrade has an astonishingly prolific theatre scene, and as Harold Clurman reminded us at every opportunity, great theatre can only exist where the efforts to make theatre are legion. Belgrade is such a place and as the reader who becomes familiar with the plays in this book will avouch, Belgrade has produced some of the greatest.-Dennis Barnett

Selected Serbian Plays

Stojanović, Dejan

Barnett, Dennis

Dramas & Plays

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