Author spotlight: Vladan Jovanović
In Opium in the Balkans: Cultivation, Processing, and Trade during the Interwar Period, Vladan Jovanović examines the cultivation, production, and trafficking of Macedonian raw opium, tracing and contextualizing both the licit and the illicit processing and trade of opium alkaloids from the Western Balkans through Turkey and to the rest of the world between the two World Wars. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
What first sparked your interest in history, and drug history in particular?
Vladan Jovanović: In elementary school, I won a history award on Serbian-Slovenian friendship that took me on a two-week trip across Yugoslavia on Tito’s Blue Train. I pursued history in the late 80s and quickly engaged with the complex questions surrounding Kosovo and Macedonia’s integration into Yugoslavia. I shifted my focus after Dragan Bjelogrlić, Serbian actor, director, and producer, read my paper describing Macedonia as a “Balkan Colombia.” That phrase inspired his series The Black Sun and prompted him to involve me in deeper archival work, opening up an unknown world.
What is one source that changed your perspective during your research?
VJ: Despite my skeptical nature, I have always wondered why memoir literature is met with so much doubt, as if contemporaries were not the most faithful witnesses of their era. That is why I paid special attention to such sources: they allow an easier reconstruction of the past and its atmosphere, while their exaggerations help reveal the social context. Relying only on bureaucratic archives or biased press often distorts the picture. A preemptively distrustful stance toward those who remember the past is a serious injustice to historical scholarship.
What do you hope readers will take away from Opium in the Balkans?
VJ: Readers may be surprised to learn that Southeastern Europe once resembled today’s Afghanistan, shaped by corruption, opportunism, and the entanglement of global pharmaceutical interests with criminal networks. They will also see that political corruption was a both European and American rather than a solely Balkan phenomenon, challenging the myth of the Balkans as a uniquely problematic region. Ultimately, they will encounter a neocolonial story in which the Balkans became a reservoir of raw materials targeted for exploitation on the eve of WWII.
Which finding from the book surprised you the most?
VJ: What surprised me most and inspired me to write the book at the same time was that high-quality Macedonian opium, rich in morphine, supplied the majority of the world’s alkaloid industry. Between the world wars, Macedonia was a very underdeveloped region within Yugoslavia and is now an independent state, yet I could not understand how such a valuable pharmaceutical resource failed to strengthen its economy and instead fueled corruption and criminal activity.
What project are you working on now?
VJ: For the past five years, I have been fascinated by propaganda’s power to brainwash and manipulate ordinary people, which led me to study its historical context, particularly in the rise of totalitarian regimes around the world. I also began questioning the (pseudo-)scientific dogmas that were widely promoted. I have published a few papers on the subject, and several international conferences and research projects are forthcoming.
What advice would you give to young scholars writing their first books?
VJ: I have always preferred the written over the spoken word, following the old Latin saying. Inspiration must be seized, and the book’s structure carefully crafted, then patiently and persistently filled in like a puzzle. The final sense of fulfillment is deep and incomparable, far beyond the satisfaction of a successful conference presentation. Writing leaves a permanent mark, capturing thought and effort in a way that spoken words cannot.