Rating: 
Summary: Living History, not Revisionist History
Review: Kaplan has not composed this work in order to reveal his own biases. He has written a book which attempts to explain the origins of certain stereotypes. Any book about Balkan history and culture would be severely incomplete and inaccurate if it attempted to be politically correct by avoiding description of the dominating economic, cultural, and political rivalries. Kaplan's book is essential because it attempts to explain the mind of the irrational nationalist. Kaplan WANTS to bring the banality of ethnic nationalism to the reader. He insists on stereotypes because, in many cases, they're valid. Ask yourself this question: Does the average Serb or Croat contemplate the subtle political ramifications of his/her ethnic affiliation as a university scholar probably would? No. He is much more likely to wave the flag ang grab a rifle. Kaplan explains why this is so.
Rating: 
Summary: Kaplan's biases mar this book
Review: While Balkan Ghosts provides the uninformed reader some fairly good background information, it is badly flawed by the author's biases, particularly against the Turks and to a lesser degree against Communists of all stripes. Far from trying to conceal his antangonisms, he practically wears them as a badge of honor. Entire cultures seem to be judged good or bad in his book depending on where they fall on a scale of "Western values".Another thing I found annoying about this work was Kaplan's adulation of (not to mention borrowing heavily from) "Dame" Rebecca West's earlier writings on the Balkans. To the extent that both of these books are essentially travelogues, this is appropriate: but insofar as Kaplan attempts political, historical and cultural analysis of this region (as any writer on this subject must inevitably do), his over-reliance on West's writings largely doom that effort. I would only recommend this book to someone with little of no knowledge of the Balkans, but I would advise them to take it with a large grain of salt and to be aware of the writer's ideological animus.
Rating:
Summary: Superb - an essential read
Review: This is one of the only books I've bothered to read twice. Since the Kosovo crisis kicked off I picked it up again, because I find the Balkans region fascinating - an interest which was sparked by Robert's book which I originally bought for my Dad a few years ago. I am a half-Greek, and being born and raised in England, I previously had no interest in that part of the world, but reading Robert Kaplan's book brought all the geographical-ethnic-political aspects of that area to life. Because the layers of ethnic strife in the Balkans are so delicate and interwoven, western news media has not been able to translate the Bosnia and Kosovo situations into sufficiently digestible information. This book however, explains EVERYTHING. After reading this, you will never again hear about the Balkans and ask 'What the hell is going on over there?'It is a perfectly readable travelogue, as well as a political essay. Two facts that as a person of Greek extract astounded me: 1)Greece only ceased its official state of war with Albania in 1988! 2)Salonika (Thessaloniki) in Northern Greece was a major centre of Jewish population for 500 years up until the Nazis invaded. I visited the city in '97, and on an extensive coach tour of the area, not once was this fact mentioned by our guide, and there was no sign of Jewish culture visible. Another aspect of ethnic cleansing perhaps? 'Balkan Ghosts' perfectly evokes the beauty of the region, as well as the brutality.
Rating:
Summary: an enforcement of stereotypes
Review: As a writer, Robert Kaplan rates five stars; as an analyst, zero. Balkan Ghosts enforces the West's belief that mass-murder in the Balkans is a tradition, and that this makes the groups there somehow unique in world history. This is a crock, and incredibly unfair to all sides. It is an increasingly common trend for writers to use the Balkans to flex hithero unseen intellectual muscle by quoting West, Reed, and the Mountain Wreath. Writers now do this to gloss over their lack of understanding of the region. Kaplan does this throughout, and he paints a picture of those in the Balkans as animals. Balkan Ghosts should not be included in any "shopping list" of scholarly works. Kaplan's other works are worthwhile, but this one is NOT.
Rating: 
Summary: A subjective but valid view.
Review: This book is both a travelog and history lesson. Kaplan's observations can sometimes be as subjective as his travel plans, but I've read this book twice (the second time after the NATO action in Serbia/Kosovo) and it holds up as a good primer (albeit subjective and incomplete) of Balkan history. If you want start learning about the Balkans, you could do a lot worse than to start here. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellant! Well-researched.
Review: I think this book is probably one of the greatest works on this area of the world. Every concerned citizen should read this book to understand the complex problems making headlines every day in the Balkans.
Rating: 
Summary: Might be a scholar of Balkans, but definitely not their son
Review: It is simply bothersome to read something so willfully manipulated through a lens of Western superiority...the book aims to impress, rather than to convey any real historical progression. Unfortunately, many readers' opinions about the Balkans become shaped by sadly misguided pretenders, who will probably remain outsiders, no matter how long they live in a foreign place. The Balkans are quite diverse and the poor writer assumes that extrapolating from their common past under Ottoman rule he can really know them. Oh well.
Rating:
Summary: An illuminating, stimulating, insightful work.
Review: "Balkan Ghosts" is an excellent introduction to the history and politics of a vital, fascinating, explosive geographical area. It helped me to sort out the many players in the current crisis. Kaplan's writing is vivid and interesting; yet he never patronizes the reader, rather, we are trusted to form our opinions based on his superb mixture of history and aculeate observations. Westerners need to know about the Balkans -- a very different, and frightening, place than what we are used to. This book is a good place to start.
Rating: 
Summary: Cynical Assessment of a Troubled Region
Review: While Balkan Ghosts certainly provides a lot of factual information for the reader, it ultimately fails to offer a creative assessment of the region, its troubles, and its future. One can learn much of the more macabre aspects of Balkan history by reading Kaplan's book, but not a real understanding of the "whys" behind the grisly detail. For example, while Kaplan often describes religious sites, personalities and historical events, he fails to analyze the critical role that religious faith, and denomination (in some cases), has played in the formation of national cultures and identity in the Balkans, and the impact that this has on the current crisis. Because if this, the book becomes a reportage that treats religion as ethnicity without examining how or why this is the case, and why this situation perseveres to this day. The book is definitely tainted by its perspective of a cynical Western outsider, without an insider's view of the Balkan societies, and what makes them tick. The result is a curious melange of Western triumphalism, cynicism and pessimism. Undoubtedly, despite its flaws, the book is an entertaining and enjoyable read, and it does provide a lot of information for those who are new to the region. A more penetrating, and less superficial, analysis would have been more satisfying, however, in light of the almost daily coverage of events in the Balkans on the evening news.
Rating:
Summary: A provactive look into the logic and emotion of the Balkans.
Review: Kaplan takes an indepth view into the mentality and history of the firey republics of the Balkans. Approaching the region as only a schooled traveller and historian can, Kaplan covers the roots of the emotion and the hatred from their basis in the clash of eastern and western philosophy to the collapse of Communism. A must for any military personnel studying to understand the basic logic of the peoples of this region.
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