Fires of Hatred

Fires of Hatred delves into one of the darkest legacies of the twentieth century - ethnic cleansing. In this meticulously researched work, noted historian Norman M. Naimark examines how modern nations came to relegate populations to the status of expendable numbers. Challenging the notion that such violence is rooted solely in ancient enmities, Naimark traces its origins to the rise of European nationalism and the reorganization of societies along ethnic lines. Drawing on five pivotal cases, Naimark presents a sobering analysis of genocide and population transfer. His investigations range from the Nazi assault that culminated in the Holocaust, through the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the expulsion of Greeks during the Greco–Turkish War of 1921–22, to the Soviet deportations affecting the Chechens, Ingush, and Crimean Tatars, and the postwar expulsions of Germans in Poland and Czechoslovakia - all the way to the conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo. Fires of Hatred offers a harrowing reminder of how ethnic identities have too often been manipulated to fuel atrocities and state-sanctioned violence.