Perspectives on Albania

"Nine experts on Albanian history have collaborated on this book which aims to penetrate some of the mysteries which have prevented the story of Europe's least known nation from being better known. Starting with Professor Harding's account of prehistoric Albania and concluding with Mr. Bland's favorable account of Albania after World War II, dominated by a strictly orthodox Communist regime, these nine chapters give fresh and often controversial insights into the history of a people that have been generally dominated by foreign invaders, but have still managed to retain their language and identity. There are chapters on Albania in prehistoric, Classical, Byzantine and Turkish times, together with more specialized chapters on the Norman and Venetian presence in Albania, the code of honor practiced by the Albanians of the diaspora and the life and times of the great Albanian patriot Qemal Bey Vlora. The two concluding chapters on modern Albanian history before and after the World War II show Albanian history from two very different points of view. The political situation in Albania is uncertain at the present time, but this book endeavors to explain, if not to resolve, some of the uncertainties of the past."--BOOK JACKET.

The prehistoric background of Illyrian Albania / Anthony Harding -- The relations of Illyrian Albania with the Greeks and the Romans / Nicholas Hammond -- Byzantium and the emergence of Albania / Stephen Hill -- Conquest and commerce : Normans and Venetians in Albania / Michael E. Martin -- Albania and the Ottoman empire / Tom Winnifrith -- Cultural values of the Albanians in the Diaspora / Alexander Lopasic -- Ismail Qemal Bey Vlora and the making of Albania in 1912 / Renzo Falaschi -- Albania's inter-war history as a forerunner to the communist period / Raymond Hutchings -- Albania after the Second World War / William Bland.