General works
Antonia Young et al. (compilers), Albania, rev. ed. (1997), is an exhaustive annotated bibliography. William E. Griffith, Albania and the Sino-Soviet Rift (1963), is an excellent overview of Tirana’s break with Moscow and subsequent alliance with Beijing. Elez Biberaj, Albania and China: A Study of an Unequal Alliance (1986), based on primary sources from Albania, analyzes the formation, development, and disintegration of the Albanian-Chinese alliance, while his Albania: A Socialist Maverick (1990) gives an overview of Albania from 1945 to 1990, focusing on trends in Albanian politics, economics, and diplomacy during the 1980s. Robert Elsie, Dictionary of Albanian Literature (1986), is a basic reference work with succinct biographical and bibliographical entries on Albanian writers. Shaban Demiraj, The Origin of the Albanians: Linguistically Investigated (2006; originally published in Albanian, 1999), is an impressive scholarly inquiry by a leading Albanian philologist. M. Edith Durham, High Albania (1909, reissued 2000), a classic, recounts the travels of a non-Albanian in the rugged mountains of northern Albania at the turn of the 20th century.
History
Edwin E. Jacques, The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present (1995), is a panoramic yet detailed and generally objective study of Albanian history, based on an impressive amount of source material. Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History (1995), a competent work, focuses on Albanian developments in the 20th century, including data on the postcommunism years. Stavro Skendi, The Albanian National Awakening, 1878–1912 (1967), provides a comprehensive study of the rise and development of Albanian nationalism. Bernd Jürgen Fischer, King Zog and the Struggle for Stability in Albania (1984), is an absorbing account of Albania between the World Wars, although it suffers from some inconsistencies. Renzo Falaschi, Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora—His Thought and Work from the Italian Documents (1985), by an Italian diplomat, examines the life and career of the “father of modern Albania” in Italian, Albanian, and English. Peter R. Prifti, Socialist Albania Since 1944: Domestic and Foreign Developments (1978), is especially useful for readers who are mainly interested in domestic developments in socialist Albania. Nicholas C. Pano, The People’s Republic of Albania (1968), is a pioneer work on socialist Albania, with the accent on foreign affairs.