A Concise History of Bulgaria

I was inspired to begin learning in more detail about periods and events in Bulgarian History.


Bulgaria - All You Need to Know   May 16, 2000
Marshall Lee Miller
25 out of 26 found this review helpful

Bulgaria is a little-known but fascinating country that has labored for years in obscurity. It has always been behind some Curtain--the Iron Curtain for four decades, the Ottoman Curtain for five centuries, and Byzantium before that. Until now, there have been only a handful of scholarly books on the country, and these have been on narrow periods or topics. There hasn't been a book that would allow an educated reader to get a grasp of the country as a whole. Now there is. This book, by a noted Oxford scholar, is clear, concise, and yet reasonably short. Recommended.


A Pretty Good Book   September 28, 2000
Gary N. Clark (La Crescenta, CA USA)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I found this book to be a good coverage of the subject matter, starting mainly about 600 AD and moving forward. I found the subject matter to be very interesting, partly because I knew so little about Bulgaria. Reading this book enhances my understanding of Greek, Serbian, and Turkish history (such as it is). This is an area left out of my earlier education, and this book does of good job of efficiently relating the broad sweep of Bulgarian history. At times I felt the book might have benefited from a more in depth discussion of the contemporary economic, intellectual, or cultural context bearing on certain events or trends. On the other hand, the author does not get bogged down in interesting trivia. The author does a good job of relating the main events in Bulgaria of the past 1400 years, and I enjoyed reading it.


Good overview but could use more information on Ottoman rule   November 15, 2001
Blah (New York, New York)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

This is a thorough basic history of Bulgaria. It covers every major topic and most important events but does not spend too much time on any one event. It also does not bog you down with frivolous details. The book is very readable and moves along in a fluid chronological order. The only real shortcoming is the lack of information on the Ottoman Rule, which is so important to Bulgarian history. I was also hoping for some more details on the early Khans.


Good starting point   January 7, 2002
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

This is an excellent book that serves its stated purpose. Most shortcomings are related to the impossibility of summing up 1400 years of history in less than 300 pages. My main qualms are (1) that the emergence of the "Macedonian Question" is not elaborated clearly enough; and (2) that for a book that continuously (and rightly) underscores the theme of territorial frustration in Bulgarian history, the maps are absolutely useless. To fill in this deficiency, I would direct the reader to the excellent _Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe_ by Dennis Hupchick and Harold Cox. They also produced a similar atlas of the Balkans. Either would work to clarify the myriad territorial complexities of Eastern European and Balkan history.