Croatia is a magnificent land full of surprises. Visitors are amazed to discover a country with specular natural wonders, a great culinary tradition, excellent wine, architecture, a beautiful language, and a vibrant national culture. While it is a small country when measured in square miles, market size, or military power, it has a beautiful culture that has profoundly impacted the world. The contributors to Croatian Cultural Renaissance: From the Margins to the Crossroad of Europewere the protagonists who survived the communist period and then lived through the fraught period of the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s worked to understand, build, and preserve their cultural identity and freedom as Croatian people. They are diplomats, government officials, artists, and academics who are recognized within Croatia for their intellectual prowess and for their vital and noteworthy contributions to their country. While the chapters explore different areas of Croatia' s national culture, they all center around the issue of how the past manifests.