The volatile recent past of Cyprus has turned this island from the idyllic ''island of Aphrodite'' of tourist literature into a place renowned for hostile confrontations. Cyprus challenges familiar binary divisions, between Christianity and Islam, Greeks and Turks, Europe and the East, tradition and modernity. Anti-colonial struggles, the divisive effects of ethnic nationalism, war, invasion, territorial division, and population displacements are all facets of the notorious Cyprus Problem. Incorporating the most up-to-date social and cultural research on Cyprus, these essays examine nationalism and interethnic relations, Cyprus and the European Union, the impact of immigration, and the effects of tourism and international environmental movements, among other topics.

''Of the recent publications on the `Cyprus Problem', `Divided Cyprus' ranks amongst the best. It is scholarly, very well conceived, nicely structured, and expertly executed. Most importantly, it is thought provoking. I highly recommend it to any serious scholar of Cyprus' past and present, and to those interested in its future progress.'' -- The Cyprus Review, Vol. 18:2, Fall 2006

''[U]shers the reader into the complexities of the categorical ambiguity of Cyprus [and] . . . concentrates . . . on the Dead Zone of the divided society, in the cultural space where those who refuse to go to the poles gather.'' - -Anastasia Karakasidou, Wellesley College