"Detailed, scholarly and eminently readable, Dubrovnik is a triumph of
book production. This is a splendid volume."--The Literary Review
"There are few introductions to the city's past available to general
readers . . . Harris' splendid study meets this need admirably."--The
Times Literary Supplement
"A fascinating and scholarly account."--Daily Telegraph
Since emerging as a settlement in the seventh century, Dubrovnik held a
significant position beyond what could have been expected of this tiny
city-state. Its merchants, trading throughout the huge Ottoman Empire,
enjoyed privileges denied to other Western states. A politically skilled
and commercially enterprising ruling class took every opportunity to
maximize the republic's wealth.
Dubrovnik also faced the extreme dangers posed by Venetian aggressors,
Ottoman plotters, a terrible earthquake in 1667, and, finally, the will
of Napoleon. In 1991 and 1992, the city survived the besieging Yugoslav
army, which heavily damaged but did not destroy Dubrovnik's cultural
heritage. This book is a comprehensive history of Dubrovnik's progress
over twelve centuries of European development, encompassing arts,
architecture, social and economic changes, and the traumas of war and
politics.
