Slavonija – povijesne rasprave i crtice, knjiga I.

Rudolf Horvat (1873–1947), a prolific Croatian historian, publicist and politician, published the first book of the series Slavonia – historical essays, sketches and notes in his own publishing house in 1936. The book contains a preface and 39 independent essays and sketches, illustrated with 33 photographs and reproductions on inserted plates.

The work is the fruit of the author's long-standing systematic study of Slavonian history (Horvat also worked in Osijek and knew the region well). Similar to his earlier regional monographs (Croatian Podravina 1933, later Lika and Krbava), this book is a collection of shorter, concise and popular-scientific works intended for a wider audience, rather than in-depth archival monographs. In it, Horvat covers various topics: settlements, events, personalities, the fight against the Turks, church history, economic conditions, folk life and important Slavonian towns and fortresses.

The style is typically Croatian — clear, narrative, patriotically colored, and accessible. The author often uses original documents, but interprets them through the prism of Croatian national interest. The book is not a systematic synthesis of the history of Slavonia (such a synthesis still does not fully exist today), but a mosaic of individual images and studies covering different periods, from the Middle Ages through the Turkish wars to modern times.

Horvat planned five books in this series, but only completed the first. It was not until 1994 (published by Privlačica, Vinkovci) that a reprint of the first book was published, along with the second book (Slavonija I and II), which was prepared posthumously from Horvat's manuscripts and legacy. The other three books (III–V) were never published.

The work fits into his broader opus of regional histories with which he wanted to popularize the Croatian past and strengthen national identity at a time when Slavonia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Like Horvat's other works from that period, this one was written in conditions of financial scarcity and without major institutional support.