The dark side of nation states : ethnic cleansing in modern Europe / Philipp Ther ; translated from German by Charlotte Kreutzmüller.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Why was there such a far-reaching consensus concerning the utopian goal of national homogeneity in the first half of the twentieth century? Ethnic cleansing is analyzed here as a result of the formation of democratic nation-states, the international order based on them, and European modernity in general. Almost all mass-scale population removals were rationally and precisely organized and carried out in cold blood, with revenge, hatred and other strong emotions playing only a minor role. This book not only considers the majority of population removals which occurred in Eastern Europe, but is also an encompassing, comparative study including Western Europe, interrogating the motivations of Western statesmen and their involvement in large-scale population removals. It also reaches beyond the European continent and considers the reverberations of colonial rule and ethnic cleansing in the former British colonies.

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CHOICE Review

This instructive text offers a useful analysis of ethnic cleansing that drills into acts often conflated with genocide. Ther (Univ. of Vienna) clarifies this in the book's introduction: "the primary goal of ethnic cleansing was not to murder and destroy a population group but to forcibly remove one from a given area." Throughout the text, chapters outline different examples of ethnic cleansing across Europe during the 20th century. Neatly written in a case study style, the chapters help readers understand the complex interplay of cultural bias and the politics of nation-states. Ther elucidates the complexities of ethnic cleansing well, but the chapter summaries can at times reprise too much of the preceding chapters. The annotated bibliography that concludes the text is excellent, providing a range of sources that touch on country-specific literature and collective memory. This well-researched text will empower readers to carefully consider the intersections and differences between ethnic cleansing and genocide. --Caro Pinto, Mount Holyoke College