Marcus Tanner

Millions of tourists visit Croatia each year. Every summer, thousands of people walk along the famously beautiful marble-tiled street in Dubrovnik, now a World Heritage site. Of the countries that have emerged since the collapse of communism and the second 'springtime of nations', Croatia's story remains amongst the least known. Yet this is a country with a rich, compelling and turbulent past. In this updated edition of his acclaimed history, Marcus Tanner takes us from the first Croat principalities of the Dark Ages and the formation of the early Croat kingdom in the 9th century through to the country's independence in the modern era. Along the way, he introduces us to the rich and diverse people and lands that make up Croatia today.

Rise, Fall, Rebirth: a History from the Middle Ages to the Present Day

Croatia

Award-winning author Tanner has journeyed throughout the Celtic world--from the wilds of Northwest Scotland to the Isle of Man, and from Boston to Cape Breton--seeking the Celtic past and what remains of authentic culture.

The Last of the Celts

Whilst young ladies in the Victorian and Edwardian eras were expected to have many creative accomplishments, they were not expected to travel unaccompanied, and certainly not to the remote corners of Southeast Europe, then part of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. But Edith Durham was no ordinary lady. In 1900, at the age of 37, Durham set sail for the Balkans for the first time. Her trip was intended as a means of recovering from a period of ill-health, and as a break from the stifling monotony of caring for her ailing mother. Her experiences on this trip were to change the course of her life, kindling a profound love for the region which saw her return frequently in the following decades. She became a confidante of the King of Montenegro, ran a hospital in Macedonia and, following the outbreak of the First Balkan War in 1912, became one of the world's first female war correspondents. Back in England, she was renowned as an expert on the region, writing the highly successful book High Albania and, along with other aficionados such as the MP Aubrey Herbert, becoming an advocate for the people of the Balkans in British political life and society. King Zog of Albania once said that before Durham visited the Balkans, Albania was but a geographical expression. By the time she left, he added, her championship of his compatriots' desire for freedom had helped add a new state to the map. Durham was tremendously popular in the region itself, earning her the affectionate title 'Queen of the Mountains' and an enduring legacy which continues unabated until this day. Yet she has been all but forgotten in the country of her birth. Marcus Tanner here tells the fascinating story of Durham's relationship with the Balkans, painting a vivid portrait of a remarkable, and sometimes formidable, woman, who was several decades ahead of her time.

Edith Durham and the Balkans

Albania's Mountain Queen

From the ashes of former Yugoslavia an independent Croatian state has arisen, the fulfillment, in the words of President Franjo Tudjman, of the Croats' "thousand-year-old dream of independence." Yet few countries in Europe have been born amid such bitter controversy and bloodshed: the savage war between pro-independence forces and the Yugoslav army left about one-third of the country in ruins and resulted in the flight of a quarter of a million of the country's Serbian minority.In this book an eyewitness to the breakup of Yugoslavia provides the first full account of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Croatia from its medieval origins to today's tentative peace. Marcus Tanner describes the creation of the first Croatian state; its absorption into feudal Hungary in the Middle Ages; the catastrophic experience of the Ottoman invasion; the absorption of the diminished country into Habsburg Austria; the evolution of modern Croatian nationalism after the French Revolution; and the circumstances that propelled Croatia into the arms of Nazi Germany and the brutal, home-grown "Ustashe" movement in the Second World War. Finally, drawing on first-hand knowledge of many of the leading figures in the conflict, Tanner explains the failure of Tito's Communists to solve Yugoslavia's tortured national problem by creating a federal state, and the violent implosion after his death.Croatia's unique position on the crossroads of Europe-between Eastern and Western Christendom, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans and between the old Habsburg and Ottoman empires-has been both a curse and a blessing, inviting the attention of larger and more powerful neighbors. The turbulence and drama of Croatia's past are vigorously portrayed in this powerful history.

A Nation Forged in War; Third Edition

Matthias Corvinus and the Hunt for His Library

The Raven King's Gift

Recounts the true story of Matthias Corvinus, the "Raven King," who sought to build the greatest library in Christendom in the fifteenth century, only to have it plundered by the Ottoman Empire after his death, and examines how Hungary's royal family has tried to restore the contents of the library.

Marcus Tanner

About

Books

Join the club