Category: Books

By:  Scott Taylor

Tpb:  208 pgs.

Price $15 CAD/USD

In June 1999, NATO troops were hailed as the “liberation of Kosovo”.  Western media promptly packed it up and headed home from the Balkans.  The declaration of victory was naïve and premature given the Alliance’s stated objectives of deposing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and creating a safe, multi-ethnic environment in Kosovo.  Rather than ending the civil strife, NATO’s intervention set in motion a series of events which would have violent repercussions through Serbia, Kosovo and especially Macedonia, over the next two years.

This is Taylor’s first-hand observations and interviews with the people and the players and a very personal account of the war, and its aftermath in Serbia and Macedonia.

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By:  Scott Taylor © 2010

Tpb: 176 pgs.

Price: $18 CAD/USD

During the past century, there have been two major clashes in the Anatolia-Caucasus region.  Both resulted in the widespread slaughter and forced expulsion of innocent civilianz from all sides.  The first was during the Great War (WWI) caused by the collapse of both the Ottoman Empire and Czarist Russia:  the second erupted between 1988-1994.  What these two conflicts also share is that few in the West have observed, chronicled or been able to fully understand the complexity of the situation.  Thos existing accounts are rife with partisan propaganda.  It is important to peel away the rhetoric and get to the core.

Scott Taylor has written about the Macedonian region, and now gives the same attention to this region.  There are always two and even three sides to every conflict, and this book gives the reader a better understanding of what happened.  Many of the Begaltsi were shipped to Azerbaijan, and this comprehensive history is useful to understand this region.  Taylor wrote Diary of an Uncivil War, which gives you a view of what happened to Macedonia during the Kosovo conflict.  It is amazing that many of the events parallel what happened in Macedonia and the region in some ways.

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By:  Kathy Dimitrievski, Ph.D.

300 pages © 2003           

Large format trade paperback  (incl. photos)

Price: $28 CAD             USD  $21

Like many cultures, oral history plays an important and vital role in Macedonia.  In the past, they did not have the opportunity to write their own history, and create a literary tradition.  Songs and poetry, which were easy to remember, expressed the joys and sorrows of their existence, current events, the passing of famous and ordinary people, laughter and local customs.  People passed on songs in full voice in the fields, or whispered melodies as men and women gathered around the fire at night.

Dimitrievski’s research includes the diaspora of Canada, the United States, Pirin (Bulgaria) and Mala Prespa (Albania).  The interviewees from Aegean Macedonia were interviewed in the diaspora and Bitola, Macedonia.  The many interviews and stories told, along with the words to the songs, provide a very interesting view of Macedonian history.  Dr. Dimitrievski included exclusive interviews with folk singers Sarievski, Tomovska, Kostadinova and Ilieva, along with a comprehensive analysis of Macedonian folk songs.

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By:  Kita Sapurma and Pandora Petrovska

© 1997

Tpb: 168 pages

Price:  $29 CAD        USD   $25

Children of the Bird Goddess, a Macedonian “her-story” is an oral history that spans over 100 years and explores the lives of four generations of Macedonian women from Aegean Macedonia.

Commencing in the 19^thC when Macedonia was under the Ottoman Empire, the family’s story is interwoven with the upheavals of the Balkan wars, Greek takeover and colonization of half of Macedonia, two World Wars, and the Macedonian struggle for independence during the Greek Civil War.  Amid this historical turbulence, the book is a detailed portrayal of Macedonian village life and culture as practiced over centuries.  It offers a personal account of Macedonian women’s culture, giving a woman’s perspective on many of the most important Macedonian customs and rituals passed down from mother to daughter through the generations.

This is also a moving account of political and cultural oppression, and the tragic effects on the family’s lives and fortunes.  This legacy becomes an integral part of Australia’s history, as the family eventually flees Greece and must manage the joys and difficulties of settling in a new land.

This is one of the first autobiographies in English of a woman from Aegean Macedonia.  This is breaking the silence and invisibility of Macedonian women.

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By: Macedonian Welfare Workers’ Network of Victoria (Australia)

P/b: 95 pages  (includes 30 photos & illustrations)

Editor & Translator: Jim Thomev

Price: $18 CAD            USD$14

A book of recollections and reflections from some of the 28,000 Macedonian child refugees who were evacuated from their homes in northern Greece between 1948 and 1949 during the Macedonian struggle for independence in the Greek Civil War.

Five of the oral histories are from child refugees, the sixth from the mother of one of the children.  The six individuals are from the villlages of Bapchor, Lagen, Neret & Krushoradi.  All are now Australian residents.

The stories recount village life before the war, destruction wrought by Greek soldiers and their American and British allies.  There are memories of separation from parents and family, the journey to Eastern Europe, growing up in foreign lands, and their eventual arrival in Australia.  The refugees, now in their 60’s, use their growing maturity and insight to understand the events and experiences that changed the lives of all Macedonians from northern Greece.

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