America
An engrossing account of the Balkan wars . . . also an informed account, for Merrill butresses his vignettes with numerous asides into Balkan history and politics. In addition, he provides the reader with fascinating profiles of heroes and villains, past and present, whose biographies explain, or help to explain, Yugoslavia's legacy of revenge, cruelty, and bloodshed. . . . Anyone who wishes to understand the human tragedy that is Yugoslavia should read Only the Nails Remain.
— Donald P. Kommers, University of Notre Dame
Choice
Merril's absorbing, beautifully written chronicle describes his ten trips to the Balkans during the Third Balkan War. Recommended enthusiastically for readers at all levels.
Publishers Weekly
Thus far, primarily journalists and diplomats have provided us with insiders' accounts of the devastating wars in the Balkans during the past decade. With this extraordinary book, Merrill, a poet, author and translator, has broadened the discussion to include not only politics and history, but culture and literature, too. Unlike many other books on the former Yugoslavia, Merrill's was not hastily written in the year after his duty in the war zone. Instead, it contains ripe reflections on his 10 journeys to the Balkans between 1992 and 1996. Traveling, often on foot, in Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia, Merrill sought out artists and literary types; he also spoke with a broad array of locals, encountered by chance or introduced to him by his contacts. The beautifully written scenes from his travels are keenly observed and insightful. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this collection is the authenticity of the voices Merrill records. Reported dialogues are uncannily familiar to anyone who knows the Balkans. (Says one Slovenian who returned home after years abroad: "After all the battles you fight for irrational reasons, you have no time left for rationality.") Like Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, this book might very well become a modern classic about what once again seems a painful and incomprehensible corner of Europe. But it does not suffer from West's crippling na vet in accepting a single perspective on Balkan history and destiny. What distinguishes Merrill's sweeping account is his ability to present varying sides and a range of authentic voices. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Merrill, a poet and journalist, spent much of the past decade traveling through the Balkans; here, in a powerful and enigmatic account, he chronicles those travels. Taking the title for his book from a piece by Slovenia's best-known living poet, Tomaz salamun, he tells a story of the war-torn region through the lives of its literary and cultural communities. He conveys the passionate insights of salamun (as well as Montenegro's Slavko Perovic and the Sarajevian Serb Goran Simic) about the cruel absurdity infesting daily Balkan life. Were they able, he notes, they would live the Central European "dream of culture replacing politics." But Merrill also condemns the complicity of intellectuals and the senseless expulsion of non-Croats from the Croatian University of Mostar. Merrill's vignettes are reminiscent of other writing about the region and will be especially so for those familiar with his earlier work in periodicals. But this is a valuable book, especially for its portrait of the less-known Slovene literary life. Highly recommended for all academic and larger libraries.--Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle
A poet who has journeyed, often on foot, through the Balkans, Merrill presents anecdotes from ordinary people encountered during his wanderings, as well as from friends in the arts and some political leaders. . . . His wide-ranging cultural connections provide a clearer understanding of each ethnic group's triumphs and follies, underscoring the importance of language, literature and folklore in forging national identity. Merrill goes further. . . . Merrill reveals both the complex hatreds and the darkly comical bickering between nationalities about their cultures.
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
[A] widely admired book.
Manoa
It is a study uniquely sensitive to the rhythms and nuances of a place where writing poetry is sometimes considered a national profession and where art is valued in even its most outrageously experimental forms. Merrill captures the wild beauty and romance of the region and records its dangers and inconsistencies.
CHOICE
Merril's absorbing, beautifully written chronicle describes his ten trips to the Balkans during the Third Balkan War. Recommended enthusiastically for readers at all levels.
Balkan Academic News
A beautifully written and visual book that stirs and engages all the senses of its reader. It is a travel book, which describes a journey less through the fragmenting space of the former Yugoslavia as through a crumbling humanity in the conditions of a protracted vicious and desensitizing war. It is a must for any scholar of the former Yugoslavia, and a magnificent addition to the library of any reader.
Canadian Slavonic Papers
Not many books have been written with both passionate energy and respect for the facts; Only the Nails is one of them. It is recommended not only to students of psychohistory but to anyone interested in contemporary Europe.
Village Voice Literary Supplement
Only the Nails Remain, Christopher Merrill's eloquent depiction of his journeys through the Balkans.
The New Mexican
This is a book of voices—of conversation, rumors, witticisms, grotesque legends and jokes. . . . It is also a brilliant marriage of history and anecdote—a highly lucid travelogue through terrain as complex as it is dark.
The Seattle Times
In the line of fire. Only the Nails Remain works on a myriad of different levels. . . . [It] does not flinch when presenting the war, but then it will just as adeptly switch gears and recount a snippet of medieval history or a quirky character sketch. The latter abound. Life goes on. Which, more than anything, is the underlying theme of Only the Nails Remain—the perverse endurance of the human spirit.
Political Studies Review
A rich supplement to the otherwise dry diet of those academic texts that purport to analyse more systematically the causes and consequences of Balkan conflict.
America
An engrossing account of the Balkan wars . . . also an informed account, for Merrill butresses his vignettes with numerous asides into Balkan history and politics. In addition, he provides the reader with fascinating profiles of heroes and villains, past and present, whose biographies explain, or help to explain, Yugoslavia's legacy of revenge, cruelty, and bloodshed. . . . Anyone who wishes to understand the human tragedy that is Yugoslavia should read Only the Nails Remain.
Kai Erikson
I do not know of a thing written on the Balkans that is so attentive and appreciative of those artists who have both absorbed and reflected on the troubles of their land—in theory, at least, their real job in life. Who else has even come so close to recording their observations?
Phil Alden Robinson
Only the Nails Remain is a beautiful, thoughtful, and surprising tour through the heart and soul of the Balkans at the end of the 20th century. Only a poet-journalist could accomplish this, and there's none better than Christopher Merrill. His first-hand experiences, compassionate insights, and unblinking eye for the telling detail make this book as fascinating as it is indispensable.
Peter Matthiessen
An intelligent, incisive, and extremely well-written report from the Balkans which gives body and human dimension to the strange, terrible events of recent years.
James Carroll
Christopher Merrill has given us a deeply moving account of a poet's journey into the dark heart of the war that punctuates our most broken century. Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars is informative as history, instructive as geography, penetrating as political analysis—and ennobling as literature. Merrill illuminates the Balkan conflict by bringing to life the bearers of its particular names, the speakers of its unforgettable voices. Merrill leads like Virgil. Alas, his tragic vision proves to be prophetic. During and after Kosovo, this book is mandatory for Americans
Bob Shacochis
There’s no finer, more eloquent book written about the Balkans—its literature and cultures, its bloodsoaked history and deluded politics, and certainly its fascinating people—than Christopher Merrill’s Only the Nails Remain. Equally compelling as both a storyteller and correspondent, Merrill is our own Ryszard Kapuscinski—the highest praise I can offer to an American writer trying to comprehend the events of our time; the forces that, even as you read this, sweep promiscuously across the world.
