The selected essays present a palimpsest of sorts aiming to elucidate the multifaceted responses to major historical events facing the ethnically diverse population of the Balkan Peninsula. The essays dealing with the Eastern Question were written at the time when the recent civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was replicating the Eastern Question in its current phase. The juxtaposition of everyday public discourse, literary renderings, ordinances, petitions, so called 'preventive censorship' of the press, denials, and appeals provide new points of view enhancing the under- standing of social and...