40 Things I Wish I'd Told My Kids is about being a successful human being and living a happier, more meaningful life. It contains the important things parents wish they had been able to teach their kids, but couldn't - because they never learned them, or only learned them later in life. These include: Don't be ruled by the tyranny of events The belief that happiness comes from getting what we want is false Pain is unavoidable; suffering is optional We live in a sea of uncertainty - but we already know how to swim Don't treat the present moment like it's a shabby motel room 40 Things I Wish I'd Told My Kids brings mindfulness to the widest possible audience - by presenting it not as special and exotic, but as practical, simple, down-to-Earth principles for living that every parent wants their kids to know

Yugoslavia and its history are often in the news yet poorly understood. Traversing the politics, economics, demography, and culture of the former Yugoslavia, John B. Allcock examines and makes sense of the region's troubled past and troubling present. Though many think of the Balkans as a uniquely troubled region, the author asserts that the continuities in Balkan history constitute the same processes of development that have occurred in other societies and are part of the ongoing process of global modernization.

One can read here about the rise of the Balkan states and the decline of the great powers; the "decline" of the small Balkan states and the "rise" of the great powers; backwardness and modernization; Yugoslavia's kings and communists; civil wars and uncivil manners; Partisans, Chetniks, and Ustashas; Stalinism and Titoism; Marxist dogmatists and liberal reformers; migrations and population flux; Ottoman Turkish rule and anti-Muslim prejudice; the plight of the peasants and anti-modernizing policies of peasant parties; the difficult "Eastern Question" and the naive Western answers; the formation of national identity and the collapse of Yugoslavia; and much more.