Reddit mentions of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Penguin Classics)

may i recommend a long, but rewarding book for you? if you haven't already, you should read Black Lamb, Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. The edition i highlighted on amazon has an intro by christopher hitchens which i bet is just wonderful.

the book is the classic introduction to the region and is often cited as one of the most important books of the 20th c.

my mother was from dalmatia, and the book has so much psychological and political insight i felt like i actually better understood that half of my family after reading it!

An older, more literary-style classic is Black Lamb, Grey Falcon.

You need anthropological approach if you want to write a novel. Start with Black Lamb and Grey Falcon from Rebecca West and The Bridge on the Drina from Serbian Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andric. Also, Tiger's Wife by Belgrade born Téa Obreht is a good source, she recently won Orange Prize for Fiction. From the recent ones, "The Serbs" by Tim Judah is some better than others but as someone has said - your best bet is to get in touch here and receive recommendations on the specific issue of your interest. Good Luck!

Young people are, for some insane reason I've never understood, told that they should read depressing books about the futility of life and the meaninglessness of existence. Vonnegut, Cheever, Orwell, and so on. Bleh.

I say read books that are life-enhancing, like actual history and biography. Reality is indeed more interesting and more informative than anything made up in fiction.

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Rebecca West. It is a sociologist's tour through pre-WW II Yugoslavia, which includes a good history of Muslim jihad, the start of WW I and the reasons for WW II as well.

It becomes a semi-fictional diatribe against totalitarian fascism as it approaches the end, and can leave a reader in tears as it describes the Yugoslavian people's determination to survive WW II.

I really recommend Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West