The term "Balkanization" emerged as a result of the Balkan Wars and World War I, forever sealing the Balkans as an entirely negative concept.

However, this did not happen abruptly. In fact, the Western press used the term rather ironically than derogatorily even during the Balkan Wars. The image of the Balkans brought to the forefront violence as the central, and therefore dominant, element.

Violence in Balkan history was nothing new. Europeans were appalled by certain distinct forms of "Eastern" barbarism, particularly impalement, which excited the imagination of all travelers. This exotic element transformed the historical figure of Vlad Tepes into the immortal persona of Dracula, though the latter is more a product of the morbid Gothic imagination than a depiction of Balkan brutality.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]