Hello everyone! I am a south slav who is very interrested in slavic history and culture! The culture part I allready have afterall I have lived in slavic countries all my life but I desire more. I really want to read a good book about slavic culture and more importantly history. Where do we come from? What makes us diffrent from Germanic People? What are our origins and our first beliefs and leaders? etc. etc. I would love to hear from you guys and what you would recommend for me! I'd love to get a good book or two on slavic history!
Hi :)
The questions of were Slavs come from and what was their culture are very debatable, but I guess that makes it even more interesting. On general Early Slav history based on archaeological and linguistic evidence: Paul Barford- The Early Slavs: culture and society in early medieval Eastern Europe
More on identity building and culture of East Slavs if that is of any interest to you: S. Plokhy - Origins of Slavic Nations: Premiere identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
There are quite a few academic articles written on the topic.
Assuming that you can read Croatian (or any ex-Yugoslavian language) i would recommend "Hod kroz godinu" by Vitomir Belaj.
Book is explaining reconstruction process of ancient (south) slavs customs, culture and religion and giving you information about it all.
Unfortunately there is no English translation.
The World of the Ancient Slavs by Zdeněk Váňa deals in great depth with all things Slavic pre-1000 AD (roughly). It deals thoroughly with Slavic origins and ethnogenesis, material culture, traditional religion and christianisation, early Slavic states and Slavic interactions with their neighbours (Germans, Romans and nomads).