SGSI, Inc. announces the availability of a genealogical treasure, The History of Kostel.

History of Kostel: Between Two Civilizations by Stanislav Juznic is now available for purchase through the Slovenian Genealogy Society International, Inc. via their web site http://www.sloveniangenealogy.org or by contacting SGSI, Inc, 52 Old Farm Road, Camp hill, Pa 17011.

While useful to anyone with historical or genealogical interests in Eastern and Central Europe, libraries support interests in the immigrant experience would find this a useful text.

The book:

Kostel, Slovenia is a small town, village actually. While small towns are typically thought of as simplistic stopping places, this small town in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, sat between the pulsating boundaries of Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the years 1500-1900. Those with an interest in the early post Middle Ages, Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe and the centuries before modern naming nomenclature should not miss this text.

Historians often look askew at genealogists, and genealogists can seem jaundiced toward the stuffiness and pretense of historians. This complex genealogical/historical text bridges the gap with significant consideration of personal history, but with academic rigor, meticulous documentation, frequent footnoting, and an array of economic data to overpower one looking for an easy read. In a time before surname development, genealogists must look to multiple sources with enough detail to allow adoption of possibilities. And, the massive collection of economic data included in this text, there is ample grist for a forensic economist to develop revolutionary insight into these troubled times. Interestingly, while it seems as if this generation is suffering through a significant clash of competing civilizations, this history of Kostel suggests we are in a continuation of one that began centuries ago.

Whether you have an interest in genealogy or history, this is one difficult read that belongs on every library bookshelf.