The Making of the Slavs - Book Report/Review Example

MAKING OF THE SLAVS Slavs are an interesting topic when it comes to their making and being familiar with the group. Slavs are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group residing in the central Europe, Southern Europe, North Asia, and the central Asia. The book The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region is a well-drafted detail of the origins of Slavs; written by a prolific writer Florin Curta. Curta is an American historian and an archaeologist born in Romania. He is a specialist in the field of Balkan history and is considered an authority in the field. Florin Curta is currently teaching medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida [Col11]. Curta in the book manages to present a revisionist interpretation of the Balkan Slavs. he introduces the book by presenting an eight page summary of the political and ideological agendas that have been misunderstood due to misguided linguistic approaches that has prevailed during times of the 19th century till to date[Cur02]. Hence, the book presents a refutation to the misconstrued concepts and provides the reader with a significant knowledge about the medieval history and appraisable glimpses in to the studies of the Slavs. The author of the book has managed well the varied range of studies in numerous different languages. Some of the work in the book has been collected in the original language and reinterpreted and analyzed after translating the available text. Moreover, the book focuses upon demonstrating the new methodologies to study the medieval history especially that relates to the ethnic groups who reflect their culture. With the publishing of the book Curta has exerted immense effort the book to convince the readers by providing strong and firm arguments along with the provision of conclusions that sound convincing in its essence[Wol03]. The title of the book is considered to be reflective of the content Curta presents in The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region. Hence, the book presents traditional historical and archaeological methods; moreover, it also presents an insight in to the anthropological approach. The book is well organized in to three parts. The first two chapters of the book provide an analysis of the textual evidence. However, the next three chapters summarize archaeological results; while the last chapter on Sclavene leaders; the text based on the leaders is presented in the light of anthropological models. Nevertheless, interdisciplinary is finds the way out of his pen and into the book in the form of conclusion presented by Curta. However, it is important to mention here that the conclusions presented by Curta in the book The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, knits the analysis in to a single argument in relation to “making” of the Slavs[Wol03]. Although, the book provides the reader with substantial knowledge; however, the book The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region lacks in the providing solid argumentation. Therefore, it will not be wrong in saying that the author, Curta, bombards the reader with intricate detailed about the available literature and refutes and provides a rebuttal. The book contains numerous surveys that reveal the factual details. This has particularly left out his conclusions and interpretations half said and done. However, while reading the book one must make sure to read the entire chapter in order to know what is the argument leading to; if the book is skimmed through the reader is left confused and with a question mark. Like in chapter 3, that lays out the Sclavene raids on the Byzantine territory highlights in the final paragraph "all this suggests ... that the name 'Sclavene' was a purely Byzantine construct" and "the 'Sclavene ethnicity' is a Byzantine invention" ([Cur02]. By mentioning the lines it does not in any way imply that these statements are not true; rather the though behind it is that one cannot construe as to what these statements exactly imply until the entire chapter is read thoroughly. Moreover, the point also entails that the concluding paragraphs require more solid base rather being declarative and lacking precision in the concept and explanation[Wol03]. Additionally, there are similar inadequacies in presenting other conclusions in the book. The interpretation and certain analysis in the book The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region is departed to the reader with fluency but without any logical rationale. Although, there are well-described fortresses, fibulae, or villages but there is no rational conclusion. Hence, this particular description leaves the reader a little irritated with the manifestations and deviates one from the basic argument of the book. It is imperative to mention that such descriptions do not reveal the knowledge of the early Slavic ethnicity rather it provides the way it looked. However, it is crucial to mention here that the book majorly suffers from the jargons that are not understandable to a nonprofessional. Certain Greek words used in the book The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region lacks translation along with the place names that require a location[Wol03]. Moreover, there were certain instances in the book that lack description; such as chapter 2 jumps in to providing a detailed discussion of the dates and biases of prominent Byzantine sources for the early Slavs rather than giving a description of the characteristics of the Sclavenes. Furthermore, Curta’s graph crucial to his revisionist analysis seems incomprehensible. However, The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region is a must read for those who find solace in researching and those who are fond of reading about the Slavic origins. It provides the reader with crucial factors that support the early medieval migrations. The book also presents argument wrapped in conservatism and the origins of the Slavs. Thus, the book undoubtedly provides a clear image and argument for those who have some knowledge of the Slavs. However, the book fails in the areas for those who are unprofessional and are willing to read the book[Hof13]. BIBLIOGRAPHY Col11: , (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 2011), Cur02: , (Curta 2002), Wol03: , (Wolverton 2003), Cur02: , (Curta 2002, 118-119), Hof13: , (Hofreiter 2013), Read More