- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd (26 Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0750930772
- ISBN-13: 978-0750930772
- Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 15.4 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,465,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
King Zog: Self-Made Monarch of Albania
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Shortly before 5pm on Saturday 1 September 1928 Europe gained a new kingdom and its only Muslim king: 32-year-old Zog I of Albania. Zog I was a crucial figure in modern Albanian history, creating - or attempting to create - national and cultural identity for a country that had known little stability or sense of identity since the middle ages. He was also the most unusual monarch of the 20th century, described by contemporaries as: "a despotic brigand"; "the modern Napoleon"; "Mussolini's lackey"; "the finest patriot"; "frankly a cad". This biography shows Zog as the product of a unique time and place. People who live in secure, stable countries are invited to set aside their assumptions about European monarchy and meet a king who fired back at assassins and paid his bills with gold bars.
About the Author
Jason Hunter Tomes is a lecturer in British History at Boston University. His background is in modern history and his previous publications include Balfour and Foreign Policy.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The temptation to see Zog as a character from 19th Century Ruritanian operetta should be resisted. He was a tribal chief who made a central place for himself in pre-war Balkan politics, creating positions and titles until he was able to pronounce himself King. His methods and motives were equally ambiguous. If he sought wealth and personal aggrandisement, as he undoubtedly did, he also sought, but only precariously achieved, a place for Albania in a volatile corner of the world. Ultimately, his influence on the wider stage was only marginal but even in exile in the 1950s he was taken seriously enough to be courted by MI6 and the CIA.
Jason Tomes' portrait of this complex man is a model of its kind: it is lucid in its overview, telling in its eye for detail, eminently readable and frequently enlivened by a quizzical sense of humour. The research is impressive but it never overwhelms the story.
And in the end,does the reader feel that Zog was a Good King or a Bad King? Not the least achievement of this impressive book is that it can suggest that he was both. Read it for yourself and see.
Jason Tomes' portrait of this complex man is a model of its kind: it is lucid in its overview, telling in its eye for detail, eminently readable and frequently enlivened by a quizzical sense of humour. The research is impressive but it never overwhelms the story.
And in the end,does the reader feel that Zog was a Good King or a Bad King? Not the least achievement of this impressive book is that it can suggest that he was both. Read it for yourself and see.
Format:Paperback
For whatever reason Albania has rarely excited the interest of outsiders. Little known and little visited, even to-day it remains almost out of sight. Even fewer people will be aware of its pre-war monarch and ruler, King Zog, although the peculiarity of his name has caused it to linger a little in the memory.
Jason Tomes has done an excellent job of picking his way through the sometimes byzantine intricacies of albanian tribal politics and has produced a very readable and well written book. Zog was an opportunist, usually inscrutable and sometimes unscrupulous, who manouevred his way to power with aplomb and succeeded in staying there until the Italians invaded in 1939. Circumstances gave him a weak hand to play in the 1930's but he played it with some skill. Whilst it is unlikely anyone else could have done much better the shallowness of his achievement reveals itself in the almost immediate obscurity into which he fell after he was forced to leave. The rest of his life was a great anti-climax in which very little of note happened.
In an age when leaders exist in security cocoons it is hard not to warm to someone who pulled his own pistol and returned fire during an assassination attempt in 1931. Understandably seen as a parvenu even by other Balkan royal families of the time and as an operatic figure by the western press his actual lifestyle was comparatively modest and conservative. He has never quite escaped this ruritanian image but this book at least offers a fair and comprehensive summary of an interesting man.
Jason Tomes has done an excellent job of picking his way through the sometimes byzantine intricacies of albanian tribal politics and has produced a very readable and well written book. Zog was an opportunist, usually inscrutable and sometimes unscrupulous, who manouevred his way to power with aplomb and succeeded in staying there until the Italians invaded in 1939. Circumstances gave him a weak hand to play in the 1930's but he played it with some skill. Whilst it is unlikely anyone else could have done much better the shallowness of his achievement reveals itself in the almost immediate obscurity into which he fell after he was forced to leave. The rest of his life was a great anti-climax in which very little of note happened.
In an age when leaders exist in security cocoons it is hard not to warm to someone who pulled his own pistol and returned fire during an assassination attempt in 1931. Understandably seen as a parvenu even by other Balkan royal families of the time and as an operatic figure by the western press his actual lifestyle was comparatively modest and conservative. He has never quite escaped this ruritanian image but this book at least offers a fair and comprehensive summary of an interesting man.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A good book, that also talks of Albania before him, and gives a nice neat background to eth country. It is lucid, and intresting and kept my intrest. It is not biased in favour of him, so has good uses, and states facts which happily ridicule the idea of a dictatorship of that form, but also treats the character talked of, and others mentioned in the book in a humane way. A very good read I would say.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Only an Operetta King
Zogulli - Zogu - Zog - the names symbolising the way of the first and last king of the Albanians to the throne. Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2003 by Amelrode
A great achievement
One does not need to have any particular interest in the history of the Balcans, let alone in King Zog, to enjoy this book. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2003
An outstanding biography of an obscure King.
One does not need to have any particular interest in the history of the Balcans to enjoy this book. Jason Tomes's scholarly research, insightful wit and beautiful literary style... Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2003 by Christina Petsoulas
Cult classic in the making
This book is a CLASSIC, like something out of early Waugh.
Funny, well written, deeply researched.
Published on 5 Nov 2003
More than just a silly name
Hilarious treatment of a man now remembered only for his ridiculous name.
It turns out there is much much more to laugh at. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2003
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