The Fracture Zone

A Return to the Balkans

By: Simon Winchester

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Award-winning journalist and author Simon Winchester takes readers on a personal tour of the Balkans. Combining history and interviews with the people who live there, Winchester offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex issues at work in this chaotic region. Unrest in the Balkans has gone on for centuries. A seasoned reporter, Winchester visited the region twenty years ago. When Kosovo reached crisis level in 1997, Winchester thought a return visit to the beleaguered area would help to make sense out of the awful violence. He decided to use Vienna and Istanbul, two great cities whose rivalries helped create the dynamics at work today, as the beginning and end points of his trip. Not specifically a book about war, it is more a portrait of a place and its people in turmoil. Simon Winchester offers an insightful look at a little understood conflict. Steven Crossley’s masterful narration will make listeners feel as if they have entered the combat zone.

©1999 Simon Winchester (P)2001 Recorded Books, LLC

Simon Winchester at his finest, again!

Different topic for him but still done in his usual, well researched style. Great history of the Balkans and how history keeps repeating itself.

Almost good

The narration was exceptionally good.
The writing was good but it conveyed the Eurocentric and racist instincts of the author. There is plenty of poverty and squalor in Europe; one needs to look around without biases.

There was no mention of Macedonia or Herzegovina. Aren't they Balkan states as well?

It is more like a diary

Description stated: combining history with interviews. Well. It is more like combining a diary with interviews and some snippets of history. I just finished an 3,5hr audiobook about the Balkan. A whole lot more history than this 8,5 hour fancy talk.

GOOD

This book is so well written and narrated.
One can look the geographical places up on Google Earth.
Despite some of the reviews, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend.
My thanks to all involved, JK.

Another winner from Mr. Winchester!

Simon Winchester explores the history of the Balkans, and provides a credible account as to why this is, and has been, such a fractured part of the world. This is a title I will gladly read again.