Hailed as among the most important books of the twentieth century, Rebecca West's magnum opus is a history, a travelogue, and a sociological study of Yugoslavia that examines how the past shapes the present In a breathtakingly wide-ranging journalistic work, West richly chronicles her travels throughout Yugoslavia in the 1930s, introducing vivid characters and illuminating details. More than a travelogue, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon connects the people and places West encounters to the long history of conflict that has formed national identities in the Balkans across a millennium of shifting alliances. West writes, "e;I had come to Yugoslavia because I knew that the past has made the present, and I wanted to see how the process works."e; As profound, sad, and funny as when it was first published in 1941, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon interrogates the forces that continue to shape our modern world.