Volume 42 of the Journal of Croatian Studies

The Croatian Academy of America issued volume 42 of the Journal of Croatian Studies, an annual interdisciplinary review dedicated to Croatian studies.

In the opening piece on the response of the international community to the war in former Yugoslavia (1991-95), Zdenka Gredel-Manuele examines whether the international community was willing and able to bring about a peaceful and just solution to the conflict.

Croatia’s musical heritage is addressed by several contributions. William A. Everett looks at the role of three composers with international reputations (Franz von Suppé, Ivan Zajc, and Srećko Albini), who contributed significantly to Croatian operetta of the 19th century. Everett’s piece lays the foundation for the contribution by Vjera Katalinić, which looks at the famous 1566 siege of Siget and the inspiration that musical composers of the 19th century derived from the unyielding courage of Siget commander and Croatian Ban Nikola Šubić Zrinski, who along with his soldiers, perished while defending the town from a vastly superior Ottoman Turkish force.

Hana Breko shares the findings of her research into the influences on, and unique features of, medieval musical liturgical manuscripts of Croatia. In her first piece, she highlights the discovery of the presence of different chant traditions and scripts of German, Central Italy, and Normano-Sicilian provenance in the region of Dalmatia from the late 11th century onward. In her second piece, Breko outlines the range of liturgical traditions that have influenced the development of plainchant sources of the Croatian Middle Ages. She focuses her attention on the influences and features of medieval musical liturgical codices centered around Dubrovnik, Trogir, Zadar, and Šibenik, in Croatia’s littoral region, and those centered around Zagreb which represent the northern continental part of Croatia. Both pieces are accompanied by reproductions from the medieval manuscripts discussed and analyzed.

In the final piece, Jasna M. Meyer presents the findings of her research into Croatian conversational storytelling, and its comparison to Euro-American conversational storytelling. Through a microanalysis of discourse, she delineates the conversational structures and patterns of Croatian storytelling in natural talk for the first time.

Several reviews on recent scholarship are also included in the issue. James J. Sadkovich provides a thorough critical review of Mark Biondich’s recent well-documented and extensively researched survey of Stjepan Radić’s political thought. Two books dealing with Yugoslavia, Željan Šuster’s Historical Dictionary and Sabrina P. Ramet’s Balkan Babel, are critiqued by Carol Hodge and Marko Attila Hoare, respectively. Bosnia-Hercegovina are represented in the issue by three books: Philip Corwin’s Dubious Mandate, a memoir of his role as UN Civil Affairs coordinator in 1995 Bosnia, is reviewed by Kurt Bassuener; Ante Čuvalo’s collection of letters and political memoranda related to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in Removing the Mask, is reviewed by Norman Cigar; while Theresa M. Ursic’s Religious Freedom, which examines the challenges faced by Catholic nuns in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia from 1945-60, is reviewed by Sabrina P. Ramet. Ivo Goldstein’s recent book Croatia: A History and Damir Zorić’s work on the 18th century ethnological investigations of Ferdinand Konšćak in Lower California are commented on by Vjeran Pavlaković. The recent issue of the Old Church Slavonic Institute’s journal Slovo (Zagreb, nos. 47-48) is reviewed by Branko Franolić, while Stan Granic covers Ivo Smoljan’s Hrvatska dijaspora and Norman Cigar covers Jaksa Kušan’s Bitka za Novu Hrvatsku.

Also included in the issue are reports on the Academy’s 47th Annual General Assembly, meetings with cultural institutions in Croatia, academic freedom in Croatia, membership activities, and obituaries.

With this latest 182-page issue, the Journal of Croatian Studies continues to build on its well-established reputation as the premiere review in English on matters related to Croatian history and culture.

The Croatian Academy of America was established in 1953 and has published the Journal of Croatian Studies since 1960.  Managing editors of the Journal are Karlo Mirth and Jerome Jareb.

Single issues of the Journal may be ordered at a price of US $25 for individuals and US $40 for institutions.

To order a copy of the Journal contact:

                        The Croatian Academy of America, Inc.

P.O. Box 1767, Grand Central Station

New York, NY 10163-1767

U.S.A.

Fax (516) 935-0019; e-mail croatacad@aol.com

Web site: www.croatianacademy.org

Articles appearing in the Journal are indexed by ABC-CLIO Historical Abstracts, MLA International Bibliography of the Modern Languages Association and Public Affairs Information Service.

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