John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.

John V. A. Fine Jr. (born 1939) is an American historian and author. He is professor of Balkan and Byzantine history at the University of Michigan and has written several books on the subject.

Early life and education

He was born in 1939 and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. His father, John Van Antwerp Fine Sr. (1903–87), was Professor of Greek History in the Classics Department of Princeton University.[1] His mother, Elizabeth Bunting Fine, was also a classicist and taught Latin and Greek at Miss Fine’s School.

Fine Jr.'s undergraduate and graduate training was at Harvard University, where he studied Byzantium, the Balkans, and medieval Russia. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1968 and began teaching at the University of Michigan in 1969.

Career and academic interests

Medievalist Paul Stephenson, lead professor at the School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, expressed high regard for Fine's work and compared him with the likes of Paul M. Barford, Simon Franklin, Jonathan Shepard.[2]

His academic interests range from theology and the history of Christianity to Byzantium and the medieval and modern Balkans. His publications have become standard in the field, notably his surveys of the Medieval Balkans (1983 and 1987). He has also revolutionized the way scholars understand the Bosnian Church (first published in 1975; republished in England in 2006), showing that it was not heretical.

In 2006, Fine published a study of notions of ethnicity in Croatia from the medieval period to the nineteenth century titled When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans. In 2008, Emily Greble Balić, gave positive review stating that "(o)ne of the book's great strengths is Fine's analysis of premodern "ethnic" identity".[3] In 2009, John K. Cox of North Dakota State University reviewed it largely positively, noting some points of criticism.[4] James P. Krokar review from 2009 was also positive, stating that the book is "extremely important" addition to "South Slavic history, and to the debate on the modernity of the nation."[5] The same year, Neven Budak of the University of Zagreb gave a negative review, stating that "Fine's book cannot in any way merit a positive review. It clearly shows how ideological prejudices affect history and science, burdened with prejudices and preconceived conclusions. Unfortunately, the book also diminishes the consequences of approaching a topic for which the author did not prepare methodologically, nor did he become acquainted with the relevant works of non-Croatian authors, of whom there are few. As a consequence, Fine's approach to the topic - contrary to stated intentions - is traditionalist in its method, superficial and unreliable. It would be commendable if the author, alert to all these shortcomings, especially his attitude towards Croats and his inappropriate methodology, found the strength to publicly restrain himself from this book."[6]

Studies on Bosnian history

Fine has also contributed to understanding of Bosnian history, working to correct popular misconceptions, especially during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He co-authored Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed with former student Robert J. Donia (1994), a work published in England, the US, and in Bosnian translation in war-time Sarajevo (1995). He traveled to and lectured in the besieged cities of Sarajevo and Mostar during the war.

Works
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gollark: What did you THINK horrible constant segfaults meant?
gollark: I said, even.
gollark: I did just now!
gollark: I vaguely remembered `-fsanitize=address` existing, but this does not say anything useful.

See also

References
  1. "John Van Antwerp Fine". The New York Times. 20 January 1987. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  2. Stephenson, Paul (1 January 2004). "Review: Barford, Early Slavs". The Medieval Review. Indiana University. ISSN 1096-746X. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  3. Balić, Emily Greble (12 March 2008). "When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods (review)". Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 38 (4): 616–617. doi:10.1162/jinh.2008.38.4.616. ISSN 1530-9169. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  4. Cox, John K. (Spring 2009). "Review: When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods by John V. A. Fine, Jr". The Slavic and East European Journal. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. 53 (1): 142–44. JSTOR 40651096.
  5. Krokar, James P. (28 April 2009). "John V. A. Fine Jr. When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2006. Pp. 652, maps". Austrian History Yearbook. 39: 200–202. doi:10.1017/S0667237808001181. ISSN 1558-5255.
  6. Budak, Neven (18 November 2009). "Kako se doista s jugonostalgičarskih pozicija može negirati hrvatska povijest ili o knjizi Johna V. A. Fine Ml. When Ethnicity did not Matter in the Balkans". Journal of the Institute of Croatian History (in Croatian). Zagreb: hrcak.srce.hr. 41 (1): 487–495. ISSN 0353-295X. Retrieved 17 December 2019.

Further reading
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