From the ruins of the former Yugoslavia emerged a new sovereign state, the republic of Macedonia, an ancient country of diverse peoples whose history and identity have long been subjects of heated dispute. In this ambitious survey Hugh Poulton traces the history of the peoples of Macedonia - Slavs, Albanians, Greeks, Turks, Vlachs, Jews and Roma (Gypsies) - from antiquity to the present.

The impact of nationalism in the Balkans and the disintegration of the Ottoman empire are examined in relation to Macedonia with special reference to the bloody territorial struggles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The partitioning of Macedonia between Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania and the inter-war experience are discussed, as are the Second World War and the Greek civil war.

1. Later chapters examine how Tito fostered a separate Macedonian consciousness, how the Macedonians fared in relation to the other Yugoslav ethnic groups, and the situation of Macedonians in neighbouring states. The book concludes with Macedonia's emergence as an independent state in the face of Greek opposition, and a discussion of its chance of avoiding entanglement in the ongoing Balkan war.