Rose of the Balkans_the. A Short History of Bulg

The Rose of the Balkans is not an academic work. Its aim is to present to the public a contemporary version of Bulgarian history in the light of recent analyses and reflections of historians from the Balkans, Bulgaria and abroad. It notifies the travelers of the origins of the country and gives them knowledge of the most recent events, so that they will find sufficiently broad outlines. At the same time it prunes supernumerary details and final judgments.

Foreign countries’ attitude to Bulgaria is usually based on the knowledge of our own history. We therefore sought to situate events of Bulgarian history in the context of the Francophone countries. The reader will observe strike reports, similarities or coincidences between the processes that took place simultaneously at both ends of Europe.

To avoid the risk of bias, we referred to the evidence of French observers, who have got information about the original aspects of the country, the character and customs of its inhabitants. The book is published in French with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of France in Bulgaria and the French Institute.

The book is written by the prominent Bulgarian historian Ivan Ilchev. He has lectured in Ohio State University, Wilson Center in Washington D.C., the University of Chiba, Japan, the universities of Leipzig, Thessaloniki, Oxford, Chicago and many other famous educational centres. He is a full professor in "Modern Balkan History" at the Sofia University. He teaches modern history of the Balkans (18th-20th centuries), social history of the Balkans, history of Bulgaria, international relations in the Balkans, theory and history of propaganda, history of advertising in Bulgaria, history and theory of nationalism in the Balkans. At the beginning of November 2007, professor Ilchev was elected rector of the Sofia University. He is a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as well. Ivan Ilchev was a member of the Supreme Certifying Commission (1997-2002), Dean of the Faculty of History at the Sofia University and Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of History. He has published thirteen books, two of them in co-authorship with other academics. The Rose of the Balkans is among the most renowned of them.