Background
He was born in 1939 and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. His father, John Victoria and Albert His mother, Elizabeth Bunting Fine, was also a classicist and taught Latin and Greek at Mission Fine’s School.
(In "Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, " Donia...)
In "Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, " Donia and Fine Shatter the myth that the former Yugoslavia has been plunged into civil strife by the end of the Cold War. To prove this point they examine Bosnia's rich historical traditions in light of the conflict that erupted there in 1992. The authors explain the origins of Bosnia's major ethnonational groups in the religious conversions of the Middle Ages and under the Ottomans as a prelude to the transformation of its principal religious communities into twentieth-century nationalities.Taking issue with the widespread perception that ancient rivalries and primordial ethnic hatreds among the Serbs, Muslims, and Croats are behind the tragedies occurring today, "Bosnia and Hercegovina" emphasizes instead the rich tradition of diversity, pluralism, and toleration that has developed over centuries and flourished until very recently.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231101619/?tag=2022091-20
( "This is history as it should be written. In When Ethni...)
"This is history as it should be written. In When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans, a logical advancement on his earlier studies, Fine has successfully tackled a fascinating historical question, one having broad political implications for our own times. Fine's approach is to demonstrate how ideas of identity and self-identity were invented and evolved in medieval and early-modern times. At the same time, this book can be read as a critique of twentieth-century historiography-and this makes Fine's contribution even more valuable. This book is an original, much-needed contribution to the field of Balkan studies." -Steve Rapp, Associate Professor of Caucasian, Byzantine, and Eurasian History, and Director, Program in World History and Cultures Department of History, Georgia State University Atlanta When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans is a study of the people who lived in what is now Croatia during the Middle Ages (roughly 600-1500) and the early-modern period (1500-1800), and how they identified themselves and were identified by others. John V. A. Fine, Jr., advances the discussion of identity by asking such questions as: Did most, some, or any of the population of that territory see itself as Croatian? If some did not, to what other communities did they consider themselves to belong? Were the labels attached to a given person or population fixed or could they change? And were some people members of several different communities at a given moment? And if there were competing identities, which identities held sway in which particular regions? In When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans, Fine investigates the identity labels (and their meaning) employed by and about the medieval and early-modern population of the lands that make up present-day Croatia. Religion, local residence, and narrow family or broader clan all played important parts in past and present identities. Fine, however, concentrates chiefly on broader secular names that reflect attachment to a city, region, tribe or clan, a labeled people, or state. The result is a magisterial analysis showing us the complexity of pre-national identity in Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia. There can be no question that the medieval and early-modern periods were pre-national times, but Fine has taken a further step by demonstrating that the medieval and early-modern eras in this region were also pre-ethnic so far as local identities are concerned. The back-projection of twentieth-century forms of identity into the pre-modern past by patriotic and nationalist historians has been brought to light. Though this back-projection is not always misleading, it can be; Fine is fully cognizant of the danger and has risen to the occasion to combat it while frequently remarking in the text that his findings for the Balkans have parallels elsewhere. John V. A. Fine, Jr. is Professor of History at the University of Michigan.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047211414X/?tag=2022091-20
( "Any further advances in scholarship on the late mediev...)
"Any further advances in scholarship on the late medieval Balkans will have to begin with this book." ---George Majeska, University of Maryland The Late Medieval Balkans is the first comprehensive examination of the events of the late medieval Balkan history---events that were as important as they were fascinating. The period that John Fine examines was an era of significant demographic, political, and religious change in the region. During this time, native populations were supplemented or replaced by the Bulgars and various Slavic tribes, who were to become the Bulgarians, Serbs, and Croats---ethnic identities whose historical conflicts have persisted to this day. The Late Medieval Balkans is an important source for those who wish to expand their knowledge of this turbulent period and who wish to broaden their understanding of the region. John V. A. Fine, Jr., is Professor of History, University of Michigan.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472082604/?tag=2022091-20
(In "Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, " Donia...)
In "Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, " Donia and Fine Shatter the myth that the former Yugoslavia has been plunged into civil strife by the end of the Cold War. To prove this point they examine Bosnia's rich historical traditions in light of the conflict that erupted there in 1992. The authors explain the origins of Bosnia's major ethnonational groups in the religious conversions of the Middle Ages and under the Ottomans as a prelude to the transformation of its principal religious communities into twentieth-century nationalities.Taking issue with the widespread perception that ancient rivalries and primordial ethnic hatreds among the Serbs, Muslims, and Croats are behind the tragedies occurring today, "Bosnia and Hercegovina" emphasizes instead the rich tradition of diversity, pluralism, and toleration that has developed over centuries and flourished until very recently.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231101600/?tag=2022091-20
He was born in 1939 and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. His father, John Victoria and Albert His mother, Elizabeth Bunting Fine, was also a classicist and taught Latin and Greek at Mission Fine’s School.
John Junior.’s undergraduate and graduate training was at Harvard University, where he studied Byzantium, the Balkans, and medieval Russia. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in 1968 and began teaching at the University of Michigan in 1969.
Fine (1903-1987), was Professor of Greek History in the Classics Department of Princeton University. His publications have become standard in the field, notably his surveys of the Medieval Balkans (1983 and 1987). In 2006, Fine published a study of notions of ethnicity in Croatia from the medieval period to the nineteenth century titled When Ethnicity Did not Matter in the Balkans.
In 2009, John K. Cox of North Dakota State University reviewed it largely positively, noting some points of criticism.
The same year, Neven Budak of the University of Zagreb gave it a largely negative review, noting some positive aspects. He has also raised understanding of Bosnian history, working tirelessly to correct popular misconceptions, especially during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
He co-authored Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed with former student Robert J. Donia (1994), a work published in England, the United States, and in Bosnian translation in war-time Sarajevo (1995). He traveled to and lectured in the besieged cities of Sarajevo and Mostar during the war.
(In "Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, " Donia...)
(In "Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed, " Donia...)
( "Any further advances in scholarship on the late mediev...)
( "This is history as it should be written. In When Ethni...)
(Will be shipped from US. Brand new copy.)