When Slobodan Milosevic, the son of Montenegrin parents, spoke of Montenegro and Serbia as 'two eyes in the same head', he encapsulated a view of the symbiosis of Serbia and Montenegro that has deep roots in both nations. But many Montenegrins disagree profoundly and reflect bitterly on the baleful experience of being politically lumped together with Serbia since shortly after the First World War. While much has been written on Serbia, little is known of its junior partner in an increasingly loose and fractious federation: the small, craggy republic of Montenegro. This book traces its history from pre-Slavic times, including its part in the battle of Kosovo, and its unique role in resisting the Ottomans. It recounts Montenegro's development under its Prince Bishops towards the independence achieved at the Congress of Berlin (with the public support of Gladstone and the poet Tennyson) and lost after the Versailles Conference when the Montenegrin Assembly voted, under the shadow of Serb bayonets, to join what was to become Yugoslavia. Elizabeth Roberts also analyses Montenegro's largely unsung role in Yugoslavia's demise, during which it made the perilous transition from being Milosevic's staunchest ally to becoming a major thorn in his side, and the prospect - aspired to by perhaps a majority in the republic - of its becoming the first newly independent state this century.
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'an intelligent, readable and very important study. A historical book could hardly be more relevant for the future, perhaps for the near future, than this one.' --Aleksa Djilas 'The need for an up-to-date study of Montenegrin history is self-evident. Elizabeth Roberts has provided a succinct, intelligent and readable account of this difficult and complex subject.' -Prof. Richard Crampton, University of Oxford'A fascinating book. It is the history of Montenegrofrom its origins as Zeta to its emergence inearly modern times as a defiant, violent and romanticprincipality ruled by elected Prince-Bishopsuntil, in the eighteenth century, the thronebecame hereditary. The centuries of warfareagainst the Ottomans are described in grippingdetail. ... This is an extraordinary book, plainlywritten, scholarly yet gripping, that presents,through the lens of a tiny, almost forgotten country,a new way of seeing and understanding thegreat events of modern history.' -Simon SebagMontefiore, The Spectator'Elizabeth Roberts, a former diplomat who hastaught Balkan history, has filled [a gap]. Now thatshe has produced such a thorough book, futurehistorians may not bother again: if one historywas enough for the last century, perhaps one isenough for this century too.' -The Economist
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Elizabeth Roberts is a former diplomat who has taught Balkan history at universities in Ireland and the United States.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By J. Carnegie
Format:Paperback
It has been a great frustration for the student of the Balkans that there has not been a solid general history of Montenegro available in English for a long time, in fact a century. So Realm of the Black Mountain is a welcome arrival, particularly given last year's vote for independence from the uncomfortable union with Serbia.
This excellent volume answers so many questions that I have often asked about this tiny mountain kingdom, with its warrior tradition and bleak, but magnetic, landscape. What does it mean to be a Montengrin? How did Peter Njegos, last of the Prince Bishops and author of the epic Mountain Wreath, drag his divided nation towards modernity in the nineteenth century? What happened there, as opposed to in the rest of Yugoslavia, during World War Two?
Tucked into a natty black cover, Realm of the Black Mountain is 540 pages of easy-to-digest, well-researched history, with extensive references and footnotes. Elizabeth Roberts has produced a book that is essential reading for anyone wanting to get to grips with this fascinating country.
This excellent volume answers so many questions that I have often asked about this tiny mountain kingdom, with its warrior tradition and bleak, but magnetic, landscape. What does it mean to be a Montengrin? How did Peter Njegos, last of the Prince Bishops and author of the epic Mountain Wreath, drag his divided nation towards modernity in the nineteenth century? What happened there, as opposed to in the rest of Yugoslavia, during World War Two?
Tucked into a natty black cover, Realm of the Black Mountain is 540 pages of easy-to-digest, well-researched history, with extensive references and footnotes. Elizabeth Roberts has produced a book that is essential reading for anyone wanting to get to grips with this fascinating country.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Excellent book that covers the history of Montenegro in sufficient depth to help enable the reader to understand more clearly the troubled dynamics of the Balkans.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
finally -- a proper history of Montenegro, in English!
11 Mar 2008
By Dr. Michael T. Pearse
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent survey of the history of a fascinating country. It has been an irksome fact for some years that no modern, scholarly survey of Montenegrin history has been in print. It is, for example, one of the serious shortcomings of Misha Glenny's otherwise superb "The Balkans 1804-1999" that Montenegro is almost entirely absent from his coverage. The splendid treatment given to both Bosnia and Kosovo by Noel Malcolm's books needed to be extended to the Black Mountain. And now Elizabeth Roberts has done it.
The introductory chapter is a lightning-fast overview of the history. Then she starts again in chapter 1 for a more pedestrian amble through that past. It is often an irritating feature of works of this kind that they over-concentrate on more recent periods of the past, as if only the latest news is somehow 'relevant' -- and although Roberts' book does indeed give far more space to later periods than to earlier ones (2/3rds of the work covers the time since 1774), she simply has to be forgiven for it; written records on the Middle Ages and ancient times in that backward realm are so few as to make overlengthy interpretation of them tiresome for the reader.
The book as a whole gives a very solid, satisfying, balanced and insightful view on Montenegro's history. The historiographical record to date would suggest that Roberts' book is unlikely to suffer competition for a few decades to come. But frankly, this is so good that it won't matter much.
The introductory chapter is a lightning-fast overview of the history. Then she starts again in chapter 1 for a more pedestrian amble through that past. It is often an irritating feature of works of this kind that they over-concentrate on more recent periods of the past, as if only the latest news is somehow 'relevant' -- and although Roberts' book does indeed give far more space to later periods than to earlier ones (2/3rds of the work covers the time since 1774), she simply has to be forgiven for it; written records on the Middle Ages and ancient times in that backward realm are so few as to make overlengthy interpretation of them tiresome for the reader.
The book as a whole gives a very solid, satisfying, balanced and insightful view on Montenegro's history. The historiographical record to date would suggest that Roberts' book is unlikely to suffer competition for a few decades to come. But frankly, this is so good that it won't matter much.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent new addition to the popular history of Montenegro
9 Mar 2013
By Christopher Deliso
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Although released just in 2007, Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro comes from a much older school of scholarship. With this much needed work, former diplomat Elizabeth Roberts has produced the newest and best introduction to the full history of a storied and sometimes inscrutable land the identity of which was formed equally by its forbidding mountains and balmy Adriatic coast- still the features most representative of Montenegro today and most enticing to its increasing number of foreign visitors.
While in essence a political history in the most conventional sense, Roberts's study takes account of not only English-language secondary sources but also numerous secondary sources from Serb and Montenegrin historians, plus a few first-hand 19th and early 20th-century annals (the British Foreign Office, Carnegie Commission findings and so on).
Frequently throughout the proceedings, quotes are woven in from some of the many eminent personalities and writers to have crossed Montenegro and chronicled it in past decades, livening up the narrative and adding an occasional touch of humor. The selection of historic color photographs, illustrating everything from famous Montenegrins, medieval manuscripts, engravings and social conditions provides a welcome addition.
(This is a partial review excerpt. The full review is available at Balkanalysis.com).
While in essence a political history in the most conventional sense, Roberts's study takes account of not only English-language secondary sources but also numerous secondary sources from Serb and Montenegrin historians, plus a few first-hand 19th and early 20th-century annals (the British Foreign Office, Carnegie Commission findings and so on).
Frequently throughout the proceedings, quotes are woven in from some of the many eminent personalities and writers to have crossed Montenegro and chronicled it in past decades, livening up the narrative and adding an occasional touch of humor. The selection of historic color photographs, illustrating everything from famous Montenegrins, medieval manuscripts, engravings and social conditions provides a welcome addition.
(This is a partial review excerpt. The full review is available at Balkanalysis.com).
6 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Black Mountain revisited
10 Sep 2007
By Leonard Moore
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
A magisterial account which as "The Economist" says is so wide-ranging and comprehensive that no further history in English is likely to be published for a very long time. As the Spectator reviewer, Simon Sebag Montefiore, said " a wonderful book" and Timothy Garton Ash in the Guardian ""A richly detailed and timely new history of Montenegro"
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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