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Summary: Refreshing!
Comment: Take advantage of this read, because it is rare to find one on the topic of Croatian myths that is so thorough. This is mainly because the world has become so accustomed to previous views proliferated by Serbians. Those who accuse it of being propaganda are simply being defensive, because they cannot handle the truth being revealed. Understandable, because how would you feel if what you took as fact is suddenly not so? However, these people need to realize that, with the help of McAdam's piece, these myths are just not what really happened. It was initially propaganda that embedded lies about Croatia, so how is that a better reality than that presented by McAdams, which is far from being propaganda? I am in no way excusing Croatia from their faults, but as you will find out after reading Myth & Reality, their actions, role, and place in this world is far different that what the average American believes.
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Summary: Yet more propaganda
Comment: In the introduction to this pamphlet, McAdams states that his goal is to expose the "myths" surrounding recent Croatian history as it is perceived and presented to outsiders. He says that over the last 70 years, i.e. when Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia and during the wartime years following Yugoslavia's collapse, "a great deal of propaganda has become mythology with a life of its own, growing and changing with each retelling." This statement is true enough, but the propaganda he refers to is generally that which was presented by the Serbs. He fails to note that this observation equally applies to Croatian propaganda, of which this book is, unfortunately, a prime example. Like any good propagandist, McAdams emphasizes, exaggerates and sometimes fabricates positive aspects of Croatian history, while dwelling extensively on the negatives of the Serbs, the Yugoslav government, army, secret service, sometimes Tito and others. It would take too long to analyze this book's many faults (indeed, it would be longer than the book itself). I'll instead focus on what is perhaps the key aspect of this book: its focus on events just before, during and immediately after World War II. This period is a constantly recurring theme in both Serbian and Croatian propaganda, because there are so many hotly contested issues (mainly revolving around numbers, i.e. how many of the other's people the Croatian or Serbian Nazi collaborators or communists killed, how many members of their respective nations belonged to the antifascist resistance, etc.) from this era which are used as justifications or calls to arms by today's political and military leaders. In this vein, McAdams states several times that the antifascist Yugoslav Partisans were "Croatian-dominated," which is questionable at best. Croats certainly did join the Partisans in very large numbers, and some of the most distinguished Partisan commanders were Croats, but much, if not most, of the rank and file in Croatia and Bosnia, especially at the war's beginning, were Serbs. Conversely, McAdams claims the Chetniks (Serbian royalist forces who often collaborated with the Nazis and the Italians and committed a fair share of war crimes) deserted en masse to the Partisans towards the end of the war, which is true only to a certain extent, and that by 1945 they had "effectively taken control of the army and government" in Yugoslavia. This is simply not true, a typical lie taken from the pages of the most radical Croatian right-wing propaganda. Along the same lines, McAdams correctly questions the highly-inflated Serbian claims of the number of Serbs killed by the Croats during the war, but he does not similarly contest megalomaniac Croatian claims of the number of Croats killed in retaliations after the war. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the book is that McAdams tends to be an apologist for the Ustasha, the terrorist organization which ran something called the "Independent State of Croatia" during World War II. This "state" was basically propped up by Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. Its leaders set up concentration camps for Serbs, Jews and other undesirables, and their forces often massacred the entire populations of villages and committed other similar atrocities. McAdams doesn't delve into such matters, perhaps because it conflicts with his apparent mission of presenting the Croats as a collective of saints. Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic is never mentioned in the context of the genocidal system he set up, while McAdams tries to claim that writer Mile Budak played only a minor role in the Ustasha regime. Budak was in fact a very high-profile Ustasha official notorious for making inflammatory racist statements. It is shameful that there are streets named after him in certain cities in today's Croatia-something else McAdams denies. McAdams actually does a disservice to the Croats by promoting this right-wing version of the country's history. For it is only this manner that Ljudevit Gaj and Josip Juraj Strossmayer, two 19th century national leaders who had an inestimable impact on Croatian politics, society, culture and scholarship, can be reduced to simple "advocates of the Yugoslav idea and a unified Yugoslav state," a very skewed summary of two very complex, fascinating and above all positive historical figures. By contrast, McAdams almost deifies the recently deceased President Franjo Tudjman, a man who can be credited with leading Croatia to independence in 1991, but also the man who set up a nationalist authoritarian regime and allowed a clique of robber barons to virtually destroy the economy. This review can only scratch the surface of the misconceptions, omissions and outright mistruths presented in this book. Any of the actual propagandistic lies about Croatia that are exposed in this book are sullied by McAdams' whitewashing of Croatian history and his apologetics for war criminals. Readers are advised to look elsewhere for objective treatment of Croatia, past and present.
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Summary: Finally!
Comment: History in general is often writen by those victorious in times of war. As a result, the communist government of Yugoslavia following the Second World War, dominated by Serbs, replaced the reality of the region's history with a campaign based almost entirely on myth. Finally, however, a competent and credible work has been published challenging the continued presence of Serbian propodanda and their mythical attachment to the past. I commend Mr. McAdams for job well done, as well as long overdue.
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Summary: a breath of fresh air
Comment: Finally a book about Croatia that isn't afraid of the powerful special interest groups which have been working against her since she gained her independence recently. People are afraid of this book and those who have and are working aganist Croatia, TAKE HEED!!
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Summary: Serbian Propoganda exposed!!!!!
Comment: Finally, a work to set the record straight about Croatia! The Serbian Propoganda machine has continued to destroy the image of Croatia over the past years, but now with their independance, Croatia can dispell the Myths.It will take years to have the truth come into view for the entire world to see, but this is a great first volley to shatter the iron wall of the Serbian revisionism and demonization of the Croats. Bravo! Five stars isn't enough for this book.
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