Balkans : History and Historiography

The eight articles and book chapters included in this volume were written in the course of several decades during which I worked, be it as graduate student, research assistant or professor of history, at the universities of Frankfurt am Main, Gießen, Berlin (Freie Universität) and Bochum. They address questions and issues related to the social, economic and political history of the Balkans under Ottoman rule in general and how they were answered or discussed in the framework of national historiographies in particular. Although some of the arguments propounded in these texts may seem today rather outdated or of little relevance to current discourses, there are others that might be considered as still valid. At any rate, I have been persuaded to publish these texts, not least in order to make them easily accessible to students in the field.