Book Description
When ZlataÂ's Diary was first published at the height of the Bosnian conflict, it became an international bestseller and was compared to The Diary of Anne Frank, both for the freshness of its voice and the grimness of the world it describes. It begins as the day-today record of the life of a typical eleven-year-old girl, preoccupied by piano lessons and birthday parties. But as war engulfs Sarajevo, Zlata Filipovi´c becomes a witness to food shortages and the deaths of friends and learns to wait out bombardments in a neighborÂ's cellar. Yet throughout she remains courageous and observant. The result is a book that has the power to move and instruct readers a world away.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book .......2007-05-25
Sheesh...this is the product of a child, not the work of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. It is an excellent diary, an excellent primary source and an excellent text for a better understanding of the Yugoslav wars. Yes...it does only tell one point of view - hers - it is her diary! Some readers are offended because of the comparison to Anne Frank; a comparison that Filipovic and others make in the book. The comparison is totally fair. Both are intelligent children caught up in situations they have no control over during wars of ethnic cleansing and extermination. It is a testament to Zlata that she can make the connection to Anne Frank...obviously the rest of the world couldn't. They (We) abandoned the Jews sixty years ago and abandoned hundreds of thousands of Croats/Bosniaks/Serbs to genocide forty years later. Zlata remembered Anne Frank's words...the world didn't.
Good read.......2007-05-07
I remember reading this book as a child and picked it up again as an adult. It was a quick read, but really showed how a child deals with war. It made me think of how children in Iraq are feeling right now. Very interesting.
It's a diary, not a book........2007-05-04
To the reader who wrote comment "we all had our delusional moments when we were teenagers"...you should be ashamed of yourself. This "delusional moment" was war and struggle for survival in besieged city of Sarajevo.
Why don't you try and write a book, and/or diary, sitting in a basement without food, water and electricity for four years. All that while granates and bombs are raining on your city. In the meantime, one by one, all of your neighbors and friends are gone six feet under...
How about that for delusional moment...
Zlata's Diary.......2007-04-20
Zlata's Diary is about a young girl's diary named Mimi during the war in her town of Sarajeavo. She writes of the hardships of being a war child. She tells of the changes of her world during the war such as her parents may have grown older one year but looked ten years older. She is constantly hearing of people being shot and wounded. And how might I know this? She was asked if she had a diary. And guess what she did and it was sent to be published. I think this book was over all pretty well written. I would recomend this book to you if you liked the book The Diary Of Anne Frank. So to find out what happens pick up Zlata's Diary.
-Christine Lanier
Zlata's Review.......2007-04-18
Taylor (Lanier Middle School)
Zlata's Dairy is the real life issue of how an eleven year old girl struggles to stay alive during a civil war in Sarajevo, (1991-93) but more importantly trying to cope with the pain friends and family leaving to escape the war. During the whole process she decides to keep a diary which then later becomes published in the years 1992 and 1993.
This book tells a story of family, friendship, and most of all courage. Though a war might be going on, Zlata Filipovic still manages to go to school. Zlata lives in an average sized apartment with her mother and father.
The life lesson in this book is that no matter how hard things get you will always have your family there with you. And that thing's in life will get though, but eventually they will get better. Also never dwell on the bad things, but the good.
I personally do not like this book. The fact that this is a diary is one of the reasons I don't like this book, it skips around and does not tell you everything that happens.It also repeats everything, so all you are reading is what you read before.I would recamend this book to all, even though I did not like it, does'n mean you don't.
Amazon.com
Journalist David Rohde was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for his reporting on the Bosnian city of Srebrenica. After the United Nations' "safe haven" fell, Rohde investigated reports of massacres, and was arrested by Bosnian Serbs while investigating mass graves near the town.
In End Game, Rohde tells the entire story of the fall of Srebrenica, in which 7,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed, making it the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. Rohde's reporting is prodigious, and as the narrative progresses the book picks up power as a series of events, presented in a matter-of-fact manner, come together and the reader sees how a village was obliterated, with many of its inhabitants killed and hidden in mass graves.
The book is disturbing, particularly because Rohde calmly shows how the horrors of Srebrenica could have been avoided. The conflict in Bosnia has perhaps been a puzzle to many, and this book will do much to give the horrors a human face.
Customer Reviews:
Anatony of a Massacre.......2005-09-20
This is an extraordinary book that describes the now forensically-proven slaughter in chilling detail and pulls no punches: indeed, while Rohde rightly places the blame for this massacre squarely on the shoulders of the Bosnian Serb leadership and their patrons in Serbia proper, the UN, US, and Europeans are also taken to task for their incompetence and negligence, as is the Bosnian Government.
A good read, although could be more complete.......2005-01-26
This is a well written book and with its hour by hour simultaneous documentary approach is rather like another book I have called "The Day Guernica Died" by different authors published 30 years ago. This one looks at the actions, or inactions, of those involved on the ground, and at the wider political picture including that of the pontification of UN and NATO leaders, who you feel after reading this may as well not been there at all. After reading it you get a good feel for what happened, except in a few places where the author admits he can't decide betweenn conflicting accounts, but are still left wondering about why it happened - what was the basis of the underlying ehtnic tensions that lead to the Muslims, Serbs and Croats having the attitudes to each other that they did? The whole war in former Yugoslavia seemed quite unbelievable to those of us who were well removed from the events, and probably even to those in some neighbouring countries. After all, it was (and still is) a lovely countryside full of historic pretty towns and villages and the people seemed unified under Tito who, although communist, wasn't under the Soviet yoke. In fact the people had a reputation for humor and fun - within a short space of time it all changed. We are told that in WWII the Croats generally aligned themselves with the Nazis while the Serbs generally fought against them, but not a whole lot more. (The author doesn't mention that the Muslims generally aligned themselves with the Nazis too and in fact formed an SS division: 13.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS "Handschar") This background information is something you will need to look for elsewhere. A few photos in the book would have helped also.
One more thing.......2004-12-20
there is an interesting rebuttal of this propaganda piece which prompted the author of this book to personally respond. I found it particularly interesting as Mr Rohde reverted to personal attacks when his lies and manipulations were challenged. It's written by Jared Israel and it's located here http://www.tenc.net/articles/jared/fulltext.htm
One of my favorite books of all time. The untold story........2003-12-28
I watch TV news religiously, both network and cable, and I was unaware of the magnitude of war crimes taking place in the Serbo-Croation war, and of the U.N.'s dismal efforts to sustain peace and help those in danger of ethnic cleansing (read execution into pre-dug mass graves) and the ramifications of the U.S. under Clinton not fighting to save lives as Slobodan Milosevic and others carried on these atrocities.This book inspired me to sponsor a Muslim Bosnian woman through a support organization. You've heard of the Holocaust. Now you need to hear this story, too.
Excellent account of a terrible tragedy.......2003-08-21
Rhodes has put together a thorough examination of all sides involved in what can confidently be called one of the worst tragedies to befall the European continent since WWII. Rhodes provides remarkable insight from the Dutch, Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Muslim perspective.
The reader has to carefully weigh the accounts from each side, mainly based on the image each faction wants to portray, to include the Dutch peacekeepers and senior UN Military leadership at UNPROFOR headquarters.
Of note for military officers, this book offers a valuable case study for a very precarious leadership predicament--i.e. that of the Dutch peacekeepers and the senior military leadership in Sarajevo.
A depressing story, but well written
Amazon.com
Peter Maass from the center of the nightmare in Bosnia, a war correspondent's montage of images - eerie, grotesque, ironic, angry, absurd. A Serb and Muslim, friends before the war, exchanging gossip via shortwave radio hours before they will try to kill each other. The Serbian president coolly denying reports of atrocities that have been witnessed by hundreds. A battlefield doctor performing miracles of surgery without anesthetic. Drivers without headlights gambling their lives in the darkness of no-man's-land while schoolchildren scamper across Sniper Alley. The author takes us with him into the minefields of modern war with a fierce, vivid, and personal book.
Book Description
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Peter Maass went to the Balkans as a reporter at the height of the nightmarish war there, but this book is not traditional war reportage. Maass examines how an ordinary Serb could wake up one morning and shoot his neighbor, once a friend--then rape that neighbor's wife. He conveys the desperation that makes a Muslim beg the United States to bomb his own city in order to end the misery. And Maass does not falter at the spectacle of U.N. soldiers shining searchlights on fleeing refugees--who are promptly gunned down by snipers waiting in the darkness.
Love Thy Neighbor gives us an unflinching vision of a late-20th-century hell that is also a scathing inquiry into the worst extremes of human nature. Like Michael Herr's
Dispatches (also available in Vintage paperback), it is an utterly gripping book that will move and instruct readers for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
Incomplete by all measures!.......2007-09-12
"Love they neighbor" caught my eye as it was supposed to cover a topic of which I have great interest. I have devoured about 20 books on the most recent Balkan's war and I have actually traveled to the region on two occasions since fighting started/ended. I found this book to be a failure both artistically and in the realm of journalistic confirmation..
It is not the author's biases which I have issue with; it is much more the child like way that issues are presented. The author makes the history of the region seem to be irrelevant and then makes snap judgment. As we know from WWI, WWII, the Cold War etc...the history of the Balkans makes it a unique geographic area. To ignore the expansion of the Ottomans, the 1st and 2nd Balkans War as well as WWII....well it just shows the "Ugly American" side of this Author." I would go into more detail, however I would say that besides the grandiose vocabulary used in the book....I would rate this piece at the 9th grade level....at best. There are far more interesting and intriguing pieces written on this era.. I found this book far too simple and bereft of history which makes the writings irrelevant. If you want to read a far better book I recommend. " My War is gone and I miss it so...." Or any book written by Misha Glenny more worthy of a read.
I have a confession to make..........2006-07-28
I have a confession to make - I am guilty of ignorance.
While in 1992 I was taking my first trip to Europe, falling in love for the first time, getting my introduction to Pentecostalism and learning to live, people were being exterminated only several hundred miles away from me.
While I was going into my fourth year of high school education in Bulgaria, boys and girls my age were being raped and tortured and murdered and it took me 15 years to find that out. How is it that I knew nothing about that war? How is it I never paid attention to the news, never took interest in what was happing in Bosnia? How? How come I turned a blind eye to the grizzly events occurring in a land where people spoke Slavic language similar to my own, had features similar to mine, shared history similar to the one of my county? How can I have been so ignorant of the genocide in Bosnia?
Then, in the winter of 1992 I came to the United States and looking back now I find I wasn't the only one guilty of ignorance. For three years (1992-1995) United Nations, countries like Britain, France, Russia and of course, the USA, looked to resolved the conflict by ignoring the direct problem in the region. Peaceful solution is what everyone was talking about and looking for, and all the while men, women, and children died by torture, by fire, by knives to their throats. Over 200,000 people. 200,000 died in this conflict and having read Peter Maass' book I feel disgusted with myself, with humanity in general.
I suspect there were hundreds of other conflicts that occurred and I missed. I know there were many more that history sheltered away from humanity and perhaps I'll never learn about their victims, but having read this book and having learned of the dangerous games politicians and people with power played, I'm left with a nauseating feeling of shame. Shame for being a human and for possessing the realization that evil is something people grow inside, something they cultivate and feed of. For all of our 100,000 years of civilization we have nothing to show except death, destruction and deceit. Is this what we should be proud of? Is this the meaning of life?
I recommend this book to everyone. It's hard to find stories out there that are so open, so raw, so real in their context that make readers seriously wonder what society, civilization, morality and ethics really mean. Mr. Maass, thank you for being so honest.
-by Simon Cleveland
A little editing would do wonders.......2004-12-16
This is a fascinating book. Unfortunately the author has a habit of referencing other books (most notably Black Lamb Grey Falcon and Catch-22) far too often, usually just when you've lost youself in the book. His insight and explanations of what he experienced are great but they often stray back and forth in time. This sometimes gets a little hard to follow. All of these could be cured with just a little editing. Other than that the only problem I had with the book is that I wanted to know more of his experiences.
An astounding read..........2004-07-25
This astonishing book tells the story of a journalist who was sent to Bosnia to cover the Serb invasion of that country in the early 1990's. The story the author has to tell is amazing, sad, and troublesome. It is absolutely incredible that this could happen in 'civilized' Europe in the 1990's, and no one intervened to stop it. The author tells the stories that you did not read in the newspapers, and gives the perspective of someone who suffered with the Bosnians. A highly engrossing, highly recommended read!
Gripping, shocking, and simply terrifying!.......2003-09-20
This book showed how terrible the War in Bosnia really was. The media failed to show us the bloodbath that it became. I am sorry that we as a nation did not do more to help the Muslims in Bosnia. Whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Atheist we have a moral responsibility to help defend a small country from genocide. The shocking truth in this book opened my eyes but it also deeply depressed me. One is tempted to give up hope in the face of such monstrous reality. We live in a very unpredictable, hostile, and politically unstable world and Peter Maass shows just how evil it can get.
Book Description
Four-star General Wesley K. Clark became a major figure on the political scene when he was drafted by popular demand to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2003. But this was just one of many exceptional accomplishments of a long and extraordinary career. Here, for the first time, General Clark uses his unique life experience-from his difficult youth in segregated Arkansas where he was raised by his poor, widowed mother; through the horror of Vietnam where he was wounded; the post-war rebuilding of national securityand the struggles surrounding the new world order after the Cold War-as a springboard to reveal his vision for America, at home and in the world. General Clark will address issues such as foreign policy, the economy, the environment, education and health care, family, faith, and the American dream.Rich with breathtaking battle scenes, poignant personal anecdote and eye-opening recommendations on the best way forward, General Clark's new book is a tour de force of gripping storytelling and inspiring vision.
Customer Reviews:
A great leader writes about caring deeply and accepting responsibility.......2007-09-29
General Clark has written a book about his own life, about America and about leadership. Presumably, the project had begun as a presidential campaign biography but then was redirected somewhat when the decision was taken not to run for president this year. Predictably, then, the book is a bit of a hodgepodge, but, in the end, it works.
Especially interesting for me were the insights into General Clark's own sometimes conflicting thoughts about the military that is so central to his life. I was struck by similarities to people who despite their deep religious convictions nevertheless must sometimes struggle with their spirituality. While Clark's overriding faith in and support for the U.S. military are unwavering, he has faced times in his life when he has agonized over whether or not American military power and soldiers are being used and treated properly (and if not what, if anything, can be done about it). It would be difficult for a thinking and feeling soldier to have come through the Vietnam experience as he did without having to work through questions of that sort. In reading these and other reflections, the reader observes Clark's humanity, caring, multidimensionality and depth. Leadership, we learn, is a lot about caring, and it means taking responsibility (and sometimes truly huge responsibility) for other people. General Clark takes that caring and that responsibility very seriously. There is nothing cavalier in this soldier's personality.
As an admirer of General Clark, I enjoyed learning more about the man through his book. As an entrepreneur striving through inexhaustible challenges to build a strong and cohesive team and direct it to a collective goal, I found both leadership lessons and inspiration. As an American who is deeply concerned about the tragic direction in which our country has been led thus far into the new millennium, General Clark's book gives me reason to believe that America can do better and be much better led. It also offers substantial elements of a strategy for making both America and the world at large a more prosperous, peaceful and safer place.
A life led, and a life of leading........2007-09-22
Wes Clark has lead a life that could only be described as extraordinary. From growing up in Arkansas, to West point, to Oxford, The bloody fields of Vietnam to the halls of Washington and everywhere in between. This book gives an inspiring account of how one man from humble origins and a will to achieve went from a poor, small town boy to one of the most decorated Military leaders in modern history. This book is practically a manual on leadership. Whether you are in to politics or not, you should get this book. You cannot read this without being inspired, and hopeful for the future of this country.
Lessons from a hero.......2007-09-09
"A Time To Lead" is a must read for anyone who cares about our government and is interested in the future. The stories that Wes Clark tells will make you laugh, tremble, and hope. This is a man who has truly lived a life of sacrifice and service and it is a breath of fresh air to read the memoirs of someone who has actually walked the walk. Clark's voice has brought reason to our national dialog and I hope that his message of reason over rage continues to spread in this nation and throughout the world.
Wonderful Book.......2007-09-07
I read this book in only two sittings because I was anxious to see how a man who faced some severe challenges as a child and almost died in Vietnam could go on to become a great leader and American hero. It is a wonderful story of commitment and love of country as well as the lifetime love of one woman.
I TOTALLY DISAGREE with the snarky last sentence of the Publisher Weekly review (at the top). In fact, I am giving copies of this book to my younger friends and family members who truly want to do something with their lives, but don't exactly know what that might be or how to go about it. This isn't to say that the book is a recipe for how to become a 4 Star General or something as spectacular, but rather how to experiement with one's strengths (and weaknesses) and the focus on the goals that emerge from such a journey. Perhaps without being fully aware of it, Clark gives hints for all of us about how to be the best we can be, and reveals more about himself than I was expecting. The road isn't always easy. There will be setbacks. But one just keeps at it, and success can be the outcome.
I loved this inspiring book.
Stories from the life of Wesley Clark and the lessons they teach.......2007-09-04
The book could easily be subtitled, "Stories from my life and the lessons they teach," for that is the basic structure of the book. In chronological order, except for the Preface, in which he relates the incident in which he was wounded in Viet Nam, Gen. Clark tells stories of his life and then completes each chapter with the lessons those stories have taught him--lessons for life and lessons on leadership. The final chapter applies those lessons to articulate a vision for America, for governance, and a path to follow for the 21st century.
Most of the stories he tells will be familiar to the avid Clark supporter community, but we've never heard them in his own words before, and in some cases in as much detail. The personal touch and the insights he provides bring the stories alive in his straightforward--dare I say simple?--language. It's an easy read, but the message is deep, but not complex.
If there was any disappointment in my reading of the book is that he downplays his own achievements, accomplishments, and uniqueness as a public servant, soldier, scholar, and leader. While his brilliance shines through the prose, he goes out of his way to avoid making him the star of the narrative. For example, his account of the Mt. Igman tragedy in Bosnia leaves out the danger and personal risk he undertook in making his rescue attempt. And there are almost too-casual mentions of his being number one in his class at West Point and his selection as a Rhodes Scholar. He omits altogether the praise that has been lavished on him in his formal Army evaluations and in other, less formal ways.
His mission in writing the book was to teach. The stories are necessary to understand the significant events in his life that have shaped who he is, led him to his beliefs, developed his character, and instilled the principles that guide him still. Extracting the leadership lessons from the stories and putting them all in one place could be used as the basis for a day-long seminar on principled leadership.
I didn't get the impression that he was touting his own leadership traits or promoting himself for his own purposes. Rather, I think he was hoping that others would internalize the lessons he teaches and adopt the same principles. He seems to think that the country has a dearth of such leaders and would like to develop more of them in all walks of life.
Readers of Clark's third book should enjoy it at at least two levels: the stories themselves as a compelling and often poignant narrative, and the points to ponder in developing leaders to take America to the places she should go in the future.
Download Description
Praise for Scott Simon’s Home and Away
“Home and Away may be the best memoir written by a fan I’ve ever read.”
–RON RAPOPORT, Chicago Sun-Times
“Extraordinary . . . a memoir of such breadth and reach.”
–Sports Illustrated
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Riveting story that unravels a bit at the end.......2007-06-10
To use the old cliché, this was a book I could not put down. From the first chapter, I found it to be a riveting and captivating story wrapped convincingly in the historical perspective of the siege of Sarajevo. I've heard Scott Simon many times on NPR and even heard him talking about this book when it was published (though for some reason I wasn't compelled to read it at the time), but I never had any idea that he is such a talented writer of fiction. Certainly his own knowledge gained through covering the war helps, but there's more to the book than simply a history lesson.
Simon takes the reader on an intriguing journey through war-ravaged Sarajevo seen primarily through the eyes (and scope) of 17-year-old Irena Zaric. The book is a heart-wrenching narrative about the horrors suffered by the people caught on the wrong side of the conflict (and the wrong side of the river) in Sarajevo, made all the more compelling by a story that lets us into the hearts, minds, and apartments of those who experienced it.
My one and only complaint with the book begins approximately three-quarters of the way into the story. After reading that much, it became apparent that there is a very obvious way for the story to end, so obvious that I found myself silently pleading for the story not to end so predictably. Soon it becomes apparent that there is a second way the story could go, and although it is less obvious than the first, it still seems too predictable. It is the second storyline, more or less, that Simon chose. And although he throws in a few wrinkles (probably because he too realized that it was a bit too predictable), doing so really only ended up diluting an otherwise strong story. If you will permit me a sports metaphor, I felt like Simon fumbled the ball on the one yard line. He was close - so very close - to making this a truly outstanding story, but just didn't quite close the deal.
Still, I don't want that to overshadow what is otherwise an outstanding work of historical fiction - really one of the better fictional books I have read in quite some time. If I could give 4.5 stars rather than 4 I probably would, because it was only the very end of the story that let me down in any way.
I wouldn't change a word!.......2007-03-22
I've seldom read a book in which I wouldn't alter one single word. This is one of those books. Mr. Simon gets it spot-on right. As I read it I did a sort of connect-the-dots thinking of storied he'd filed from his time in Sarajevo. When I'd listen to him I'd think this isn't simply a story for him. He's having a life-altering experience. Pretty Birds is the result of that amazing and terrible time.
This book stands as both a great work of historical fiction and a memorial to those wonderful souls ripped from this world by the hand of tyranny that swept through their lives. Read it and learn. Read it and remember. Read it and laugh as the human spirit struggles to find joy in a joyless slaughter pen. But, most of all, as the popular saying goes, read it and weep.
Simon draws from his war correspondent experiences,.......2007-02-04
and brings us this gritty, flinty, barren landscape-of-a-war story with (sometimes) very human people behind those ski masks and the other "masks" worn by snipers and bombers, who, before the war started, were classmates, neighbors, friends.
In some ways, Pretty Birds reminds me of Marjan Satrapi's "Persepolis", (another gritty war story told, this time, in a book filled with nothing but cartoon strips), by the way it portrays the human condition (including humor, wry or dark) and the consciences and all-too-human failings and needs that do not abandon us, whether they are confronted by the sights, smells, and atrocities of war, or are chewing on grass and lawn snails for supper.
The raw wind, the cold, dirt, isolation, -vs- the bits of "real" life as seen thru the pages of popular European/American magazines for teenagers, all bring together the contrasts that beseige those who, now at war, still try to conjure up the relative peace of their former lives.
Very little human emotion was conveyed at the (usually graphic) descriptions of the sight and sound of death -- adding to the all-too-real shell-shock that invades the soul and psyche of those trying to survive in war torn areas.
Irena's legendary prowess as a local basketball star helps her stay alive, but a pretty bird eventually brings about a startling ending, making the reader wonder if Irena's questions to Tedic and Molly about Hell were ever answered in full.
Great.......2007-01-17
For those who loved "Kite Runner" this is equally excellent.
This is the story of a teenage female basketball star in Sarajevo while it was under siege in 1992. She and her family were violently expelled from their home with nothing and fled to the Muslim side of the city that the Serbs kept under siege for years. Eventually Irena is recruited to become a sniper.
That is the bare outline of the plot. Irena is seventeen and she and her family are very much into pop culture in a city with no power and little food. In between foraging and dodging bullets and mortars, she relishes the finding of every old magazine so that she can keep up with the rest of the world. Her and her family's references to pop culture while surviving outrageous conditions are poignant and emphasize the "life must go on" attitude as they literally cling to life.
The characters are all deep and rich. There is the assistant principal turned militant who recruits Irena and other teens to fight the Serbs as best they can. Her father and mother are drawn sympathetically and believeably. He tries to find anything to accomplish of value and she displays strength that before the crisis would have been unbelievable. A widowed neighbor adds humor and Pretty Bird, their pet parrot, is emblematic of them all.
The author is NPR's Scott Simon. He brings unique qualities that add so much to the book. In his note, he reveals that he interviewed a teenage sniper upon whom he based the main character. It is clear he both liked and respected that girl, because Irena is a terrific "real person" hero. He was stationed in Sarajevo for at least part of the siege so his first hand view adds to the realism.
Also, Simon is a journalist and writes like one. His sentences are crisp and to the point without a lot of embellishment. This style fits the stark nature of the cityscape and story he is relating.
This is a wonderful novel of a teenage girl and her family fighting for surviving. She fights back against her enemies while the novel vivdly portrays a modern city under siege. A centuries old war technique moved to the 2oth century with some effect, but not enough to overcome the human spirit, especially the spirit of a vibrant teen.
Extremely highly recommended as one of the very best books written in 2006.
Excellent in all respects.......2006-07-10
I write my reviews before I read anybody else's. This is the first work, fiction or non-fiction, that I have read about the War in former Yugoslavia. But I feel I have an excellent taste for what the besieged citizens of Sarajevo went through from 1992-1996.
The book has made the war very real. The characters in the novel are well developed. The plot was not predictable; you actually think it is going one way and it ends in another. They could probably make a movie out of it, but they would probably ruin its excellence.
The story is that if Irena, a teenage Bosnian who escapes with her family from the Serbian controlled side of Sarajevo to the Bosnian side, which is a terror stricken enclave supposedly being protected by the United Nations troops.
Pretty Birds refers to Irene and her friends, who get caught up in the war effort in ways they would not have imagined, and it also refers to Pretty Bird, Irena's parrot.
The dialogue and depictions are realistic. The characters and moments memorable. The book flows fast and never bores.
It does only cover the Bosnian side of the siege of Sarajevo. With a small but important exception.
One feels one knows at least a bit of what the besieged residents of Sarajevo endured, and such knowledge makes one's personal problems evaporate into a mist--to use a term from the book.
I have heard first-hand anecdotes of what it was like to live in Sarajevo during the war, and the accounts of the book match those.
Amazon.com
"There is a method to presenting the reality of war in [New York] Times style," writes Chuck Sudetic, "a restrictive method but a perfectly valid one just the same. It focuses mainly on institutions and political leaders and their duties and decisions, while leaving the common folk to exemplify trends, to serve as types: a fallen soldier, a screaming mother, a dead baby.... The method is described by various terms: detachment, disinterestedness, dispassion, distancing, and others with negative prefixes engineered to obliterate any relationship between observer and observed."
Although Sudetic was able to maintain his detachment for the numerous stories he filed from the frontlines of the Bosnian war for the Times, it could not ultimately last. Blood and Vengeance examines the events leading up to the July 1995 genocidal massacre that took place in and around the town of Srebenica from the perspective of the Celik family (to whom the author is related by marriage). Sudetic ably blends the intimate chaos and terror of the Celiks' lives with broader historical and contemporary accounts that provide a fuller context for what happened. The people here are not types, but vividly portrayed individuals in whose lives the reader gradually becomes absorbed. This book ranks with Peter Maass's Love Thy Neighbor as one of the closest--and most chilling--looks at the tumultuous events that shattered post-cold war Eastern Europe. --Ron Hogan
Book Description
A riveting account of the events that led to the slaughter of Muslims at Srebenica--the Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee of the Bosnian conflict. In July 1995 approximately 7,000 Muslim men, women, and children died at Serbian hands in and around the old Bosnian mining town of Srebenica. It was the largest mass execution in Europe since the Nazi era; a stunning failure for the United Nations and the Western powers; and the grim watershed that led, finally, to massive NATO air strikes and the current fragile peace. How and why this shocking act of genocide was allowed to take place is still imperfectly understood. Blood and Vengeance puts a human face on the grim statistics and tangled politics of this event. Through the odyssey of one Muslim family, the Celiks of the remote mountain town of Kupusovici, journalist Chuck Sudetic tells the epic and tragic story of a people and a nation. His narrative reaches as far back as the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where the Turks conquered the Serbs, and unfolds with sweeping and inexorable power toward the Celiks' rendezvous with history in the so-called "safe area" of Srebenica. Not since The Killing Fields has as powerful a nonfiction tale of spinelessness, savagery, and heroic survival been told. Here is a book as sweeping and powerful as a panoramic, historical painting, yet with the heartbreaking intimacy of a family snapshot. Even readers who may once have felt that the Bosnian War was beyond comprehension will find themselves in its masterful grip.
Customer Reviews:
Biased.......2007-06-16
Good writing and a good story. However, this is blatantly anti-Serb. Chuck seems to want to portray the Serbs as bloodthirsty animals and the Muslims as weak innocents. I was rooting for the Serbs by the end of the book because they had so much going against them yet they still pushed on with their goals.
Skillful and vivid portrayals.......2007-02-26
A very personalized account of the many forces that were in motion. Masterful storytelling, making the transitions for the major national participants to one peasant family's struggles is technically very difficult, the fact that the author was able to do so shows his skill as a writer.
No agreement .......2006-08-11
The book is confusing because the wars were confusing. The names present difficulties in the manner of a Russian novel. There is a chart of the main characters. It is extensive. By 1993 the author was in his fifth year in Bosnia reporting on the conflict for THE NEW YORK TIMES. Traveling through Bosnia's mountains as a student had been an adventure. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were uprooted in Bosnia by Serb forces. In 1995 the author learned through television reports of Serbian army attacks on Srebrenica. He decided to seek a month's leave to return to Bosnia to see family members, the Celiks.
Huso Celik had raised his family in eastern Bosnia. Latin had been the language of the Drina valley at the time of the Roman Empire. Later the Roman roads fell into disrepair and the Slavic language replaced the Latin. Ottoman Turks invaded in the fourteenth century. The Serbs threw off Ottoman domination in 1804. By 1875 the Ottoman Empire was bankrupt. Hasan Celik, born 1908, never learned to read. Huso Celik was born in 1941. During World War II there were two resistance groups in Yugoslavia, one headed by Tito. In the fall of 1947 Serb teachers taught the peasants on Mt. Zvijezda, the ancestral home of the Celiks. Half the people killed in Yugoslavia in World War II had been killed by each other. This was passed over in the Titoist revisionist history of the war. Social prosperity was introduced. A restored minaret was opened in 1959. In Tito's army national service duty took place outside of a soldier's home area. Huso went to central Serbia and served with Croats, Muslims, Slovenians, ethnic Albanians. Subsistence farmers of Mt. Zvijezda became wage earners. Serbs went to Belgrade, Muslims to Sarajevo. Huso worked for a construction company. In his spare time he played his clarinet. In 1974 Yugoslavia recognized Slavic Muslims as a constitutional nation. By the late 1980's the young men had left the mountain to find jobs. Having televisions, the people watched the Cold War ending. That Yugoslavia was coming apart had been in evidence for years. Workers pilfered, Serbs were hot-tempered, Slovenians demanded free elections. Economic breakdown, (there was massive embezzlement), became clear to everyone.
Milosevic rose in the Communist bureaucracy and took control. The Croats, Albanians, Slovenes, Muslims saw the emerging Serb hegemony. Nationalist euphoria swept over Serbia. The author and his wife Ljiljuana moved to Yugoslavia to report for THE NEW YORK TIMES. Belgrade was dusty. Ljiljana's sister Gordana Celik and her husband Hamed Celik, (Huso's son), lived nearby. Slovenia and Croatia elected non-Communist governments. Milosevic sought to expand Serbia. There were Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. Tudjman in Croatia antagonized the Serb minority. Nationalism spread to Bosnia. It was forty percent Muslim. Karadzic headed the Serbian party in Bosnia. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in 1991. In 1991 Milosevic overran Vukovar.
A month before the Bosnian War began in 1992 the author and Hamed saw Huso. A month later Huso had a second heart attack and there was talk of war everywhere. After the Vance-Owen Plan was conceived, the Commander of the UN in Bosnia was General Philippe Morillon. He was no match for General Ratko Mladic, Commander of the Bosnia-Serb Army.
Celik family members are pictured in July 1995 at a tent city at the Tuzla Airport following the fall of Srebrenica. Hiba Celik is shown near the ruins of her house in 1997. By 1993 Srebrenica had become a diplomatic nightmare to officials working on the Bosnian problem. Srebrenica was swelled with refugees in addition to inhabitants and everyone depended upon humanitarian aid. It was both a Muslim enclave and a UN safe area when Mladic sought to close down entry points and choke-off supplies. NATO bombs fell, Serb forces shelled safe areas. There was hostage-taking. After the fall of Srebrenica Muslim men were called out and transported out of the area. Some were killed, and others were held, it was said, for the purposes of a prisoner exchange. Action from Croatia caused some abatement of Serbian aggressive action. Some of the Celik family members were able to move to Canada and begin a new life.
The author has engaged in a tremendous undertaking to trace the fortunes of war through the experiences of family members. He certainly makes the reader feel the pain of the conflict.
biased book about a personal story.......2005-08-19
If we were to take off away the virulent bias of this book and just leave the details of the families struggle we might have a wonderful book. The wiritng is superb, the characters are deep and portrayed well, the history however is deeply flawed. The central theme of this book is that Milosevic conspired to steal land and in doing so launched a war that destroyed the Balkans. We are told the Tudjman, Croatias Catholic president was his 'ally'. THis is however not proven by the burden of history. Tudjmans army rampaged through Bosnia and slaughtered and ethnically cleansed serbs as well as muslims.
We are told here that the idea that the conflict was base don ehtnicity was a scam, which is interesting considering it was the west, like this author, who created the myth of ethnicity and 'ethnic cleansing' in the Balkans. However it is true the conflict is not based solely on land, but rather the diverse nature of the region, with Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims and in this war it was as common for the catholics to be brutal to the orthodox christians as for eithe rto brutalize the muslims.
This book presents a one sided story, a story where Serbs are portrayed not as people but animals and in this books attempt to dehumanize them we see the same ethnic hatred that the book claims doesnt exist. If it was about land then why must this book only tell one side and pretend that half the party to this conflict were wilde beasts and not humans, thinking and breathing like others.
As a tale and as a novella this ia masterful account. it is not history and the judgements on the history of the region either lack understanding or are based on myth.
Seth J. Frantzman
A powerful and disturbing account of the war in Bosnia!.......2005-08-18
Widely acknowledged as one of the best books on the war in Bosnia, Sudetic's book offers a unique insight into the horrors of the Bosnian war. What is it then that separates Sudetic's book from the other books on the war in Bosnia? First, it is extraordinarily well written and highly interesting from the very beginning to the end. It captured my attention from the very moment I started reading it. Even though this book contains almost 400 pages it never becomes boring.
The first section of the book contains a brief yet momentous introduction of the history of Bosnia. It helps explain the root causes of the war in Bosnia, an aspect that will prove invaluable to novice readers on the subject matter. Sudetic then allows the reader to follow one Bosnian family (the Celik family) throughout the entire Bosnian war. As a reader, one inadvertently becomes part of the Celik family; one empathizes with them and shares their deepest emotions and concerns. When the war in Bosnia began, the Celik family fled from their village of Kusupovici to Srebrenica. Srebrenica was by then already under siege and about 40,000 people from the neighbouring villages sought shelter in this little eastern town. Srebrenica was constantly shelled by Bosnian Serb army and only a few U.N. convoys were allowed to enter Srebrenica in order to deliver food and medical supplies to its approximately 40,000 refugees. For three long years Srebrenica's people were isolated from the rest of the world, they had little food, no clean water, electricity and virtually no medical supplies. Diseases and infections were commonplace. People were dying from hunger daily.
Sudetic brilliantly describes the experiences of the Celik's family throughout the war. Will all members of the Celik family manage to survive the war and how will this gruesome war affect their future? What will happen to Paja, Huso, Hiba and Sanela? As a reader, one gets to know their deepest fears, concerns and desires. It is virtually impossible to remain indifferent to their plights when reading the book. Sudetic's book thus stands out from the other literature on the war in Bosnia because it is personal. It is not simply another book about Bosnian people in general, not that there is anything wrong with that. However if you follow one particular family for an extensive period of time you become one with them. You experience their suffering as well as their joy.
As is well known, Srebrenica fell on July 12, 1995 after three years of Serb occupation. What followed in the ensuing days constituted one of the most severe human rights abuses in Europe since World War II. In only a matter of days, Bosnian Serb forces summarily executed approximately 8000 Muslims, one of whom was my grandfather. I remember that day perfectly well and it was one of the worst days of my life. In my opinion, Sudetic provides one of the most detailed accounts of the Srebrenica massacre. Days leading to the massacre are also described in detail. While 8000 Muslims were being slaughtered before the eyes of the entire international community, the U.N. did nothing to stop the bloodshed despite the fact that Srebrenica had been designated a "safe area". In point of fact, the U.N. was completely indifferent to the plight of these people. Sudetic explains this well and also provides numerous documents that corroborate this fact. The U.N. was in fact authorized to order air strikes against Bosnian Serb army but deliberately chose not to do that because they did not want to "exacerbate" the conflict. Instead, they gave Serbs the green light to kill 8000 Muslims and to expel all women and children. The Muslims who were trying to escape from Srebrenica to Tuzla were frequently ambushed by Bosnian Serb army; many of them never made it to Tuzla.
Sudetic further provides a comprehensive account of the atrocities that took place in Srebrenica after the town was overrun by Bosnian Serb army. Muslim men were taken to different locations to be shot. Those who survived have been able to testify about these heinous atrocities. Hurem Suljic had been taken to a meadow along with other Muslim men. Bosnian Serb army then opened fire and one man fell on Suljic. Suljic remained there motionless until the executioners left the site. Another man had also survived the massacre and together the two men managed to escape. Hurem Suljic later testified that the Muslim prisoners were tortured; some had their throats slashed while others were hit on their heads by an axe or a hammer.
Sudetic's book thus gives us a comprehensive and well researched account of the Bosnian war. I have one problem with this book though and that is a flawed and sometimes biased analysis of Bosnian Muslims. When describing Bosnian Muslims, Sudetic frequently relies on the life of the Muslims who lived in the countryside. Sudetic sometimes wrongly assumes that this way of life is characteristic of the entire Islamic community throughout Bosnia. For example, the Muslims who lived in the countryside frequently dressed in "dimije" (traditional clothing for Muslim women of the countryside) and they sometimes covered their heads. One gets the impression that Bosnian Muslims are a primitive people. However, for the overwhelming majority of the urban Muslims this way of life was obsolete and atavistic. Most Muslim women who lived in urban societies dressed and behaved as any contemporary woman of the West. Furthermore, according to one of the foremost experts on the history of Bosnia Noel Malcolm, Bosnian Muslims were among the most secularized Muslims in the world. Therefore, one must conclude that Sudetic's description of Bosnian Muslims is misleading and inadequate.
Aside from this minor shortcoming, this is irrefutably the best book about the war in Bosnia. It is an extraordinarily well written account of the Srebrenica massacre. There are many brilliant books about the war in Bosnia but Sudetic's book stands out from the rest for the following reason: it involves the reader in the story in a way you never thought possible. It makes you angry, happy, sad, agitated and devoid of hope at the same time.
A masterpiece!
Book Description
The recent atrocities in Bosnia-Herzegovina have stunned people throughout the world. With Holocaust memories still painfully vivid, a question haunts us: how is this savagery possible? Michael A. Sells answers by demonstrating that the Bosnian conflict is not simply a civil war or a feud of age-old adversaries. It is, he says, a systematic campaign of genocide and a Christian holy war spurred by religious mythologies.
This passionate yet reasoned book examines how religious stereotyping--in popular and official discourse--has fueled Serbian and Croatian ethnic hatreds. Sells, who is himself Serbian American, traces the cultural logic of genocide to the manipulation by Serb nationalists of the symbolism of Christ's death, in which Muslims are "Christ-killers" and Judases who must be mercilessly destroyed. He shows how "Christoslavic" religious nationalism became a central part of Croat and Serbian politics, pointing out that intellectuals and clergy were key instruments in assimilating extreme religious and political ideas.
Sells also elucidates the ways that Western policy makers have rewarded the perpetrators of the genocide and punished the victims. He concludes with a discussion of how the multireligious nature of Bosnian society has been a bridge between Christendom and Islam, symbolized by the now-destroyed bridge at Mostar. Drawing on historical documents, unpublished United Nations reports, articles from Serbian and Bosnian media, personal contacts in the region, and Internet postings, Sells reveals the central role played by religious mythology in the Bosnian tragedy. In addition, he makes clear how much is at stake for the entire world in the struggle to preserve Bosnia's existence as a multireligious society.
Customer Reviews:
Well balanced and true.......2007-02-19
One more proof in numerous historical documents discussing the genocide and atrocities against Bosnian population. It points the finger in the right direction of the culprits. The book provides plenty of evidence that the genocide was committed by Serbian forces with blessings from Serbia and Montenegro.
More than The Bridge Betrayed!.......2004-10-10
Sells has been know to write interesting books covering issues and clashes between Christians and Muslims, due to his Serbian heritege and his background as a Professor and chairperson of the Department of Religion at Haverford College, in the US. He critisices his own in a very tough and honest way. Even if some fanatics will claim that he only speaks about the horrible acts of crime conducted by Serbians and Croats.
Sells gives us a detailed look into the, by the Serbs, created mythology. I say created, some of you may say revised, but in any case it hade the purpose to seduce it's own pepole to commit the most serious war crimes since the Soviet gulag camps or the concentration camps of the third rich.
Serbs use the death of Prince Lazar at the infamous battle in Kosovo between the Serbs and the Ottomans, Muslims have since been considered Christ killers and the primary target of Serb hatred. You can have your own opinions about this, but fact is that the Serbs used this myth to put a spell on there own people. Much like Adolf Hitler.
Sells writes in a way that many people might find hard to understand. Even if the book is only 150 pages it takes quite a while to get through. It is packed with information and it is not happy reading. It breaks your heart to hear about all the massacres that took place in Europe. As Europeans we should know better then let it happen again. And even as I knew about many of what Sells is writing, due to my background.
The West didn't do anything about the situation before it was too late. The reason to this may be that they didn't want to argue with Russia in imbalance that only needed something to fuel a last fight against the capitalists. Comments, by Sells, about secret NATO supply stores can't be taken seriously due to the level of speculations surrounded the breakup of the Warzawa pact. Fact is that Sovjet hade huge supply stores in the former Yugoslavia. And Serbian leaders made sure to take control over those, at an early stage of the conflict.
It is hard for a European to hear that those genocidal theories were used again, didn't we learn anything??? The Orthodox church were involved in those crimes and that is something I didn't expect, but that's why we are protestants in Sweden, not fundamentalists.
In all, a really good book that will open your eyes to the crimes committed by people that should know better. Serbians and Croatians was involved in World war II and it seems that people that suffered want revenge, much like Israel...
BUY!!!
Awsome.......2004-05-04
I just finished reading this book and it was so intriguing that I finished it in one sitting. It will open your eyes, on the matter of Bosnia, so big that you'll be able to see the craters on Uranus, if there is any over there. Read it!
Solid.......2004-04-26
Sells gives us a solid account of the war in Bosnia in the early 1990's. However, I do have some criticisms. While he covers in quite abit of detail Croat and especially Serb religious fanaticism and violence, he only mentions the Bosniac's own atrocities on a couple of occasions.
The other problem is that the book is abit too short, when you see the price of the book (150 pages of actual text, excluding footnotes).
Indispensable.......2004-02-13
Although of Serbian origin, Michael Sells offers a detailed, unbiased and honest analysis of Serbian nationalism and Christian fundamentalism. Sells argues that Christian mythology and extremism helped enable the annihilation of an entire people. Driven by an ancient hatred for the Turks which dates back to the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Serbs have always viewed Muslims as their primary adversary. Today, many Serbian nationalists deliberately associate Bosnian Muslims with the Ottomans even though no such link exists. However, this is sophisticated propaganda, the goal of which is to mislead the Serbian people and to induce hatred in them. This strategy turned out to be very successful because it unleashed the extermination of Bosnian Muslims. Numerous testimonies offered by the survivors of the Bosnian war lend considerable support to Sells' thesis, namely that Christian extremism played a pivotal role in justifying the genocide of Bosnian Muslims. For example, many survivors reported being called "bloody Turks" by Serbs soldiers. Other similar derogatory slurs were frequently used by Serb soldiers, revealing great hatred for Muslims. Moreover, a systematic destruction of mosques and other Islamic architecture indicate that the Serbs wanted to obliterate every single trace of Islam in Bosnia. The fact that every single mosque has been destroyed in Republika Srpska speaks for itself. Conversely, many churches remain intact in the area controlled by the Bosnian government. In point of fact, only a few churches have been destroyed. It needs to be pointed out that Croats also purposely targeted historical monuments, as is evident in their destruction of Stari Most, the infamous old bridge in Mostar, the symbolic significance of which cannot be overstressed. For many years, the bridge had symbolized co-existence and a multiethnic society. By destroying the bridge, the Croat nationalists sent a clear message, namely that co-existence was not feasible. Christian fundamentalism and propaganda are also highly evident in literary works of many Christian writers. A novelist and a recipient of Nobel Prize, Ivo Andric, depicted Muslims as primitive and intransigent extremists whose principal goal was to create an Islamic state in Bosnia, clearly oblivious to the fact that Bosnia was a secularized society. Many renowned Serbian authors openly express similar views, one of which is Vuk Draskovic, known for his bigotry, parochialism and Islamophobia. Paradoxically, few attempts are made in Serbia to criticize these preposterous let alone distorted assertions, the sole purpose of which is to defame the adherents of the Islamic faith. Sells further correctly points out in his book that the Western (read Christian) world knowingly stood by and allowed for the Bosnian genocide to continue. The evidence to corroborate this claim is abundant. The imposition of the arms embargo, constant futile negotiations with a notorious war criminal Milosevic and Vance-Owens's plan to partition Bosnia into a Serb and a Croat part, leaving nothing to Bosnian Muslims, thereby rewarding the aggressor and punishing the victim. In spite of the initial collaboration with Muslims, the Croats suddenly turned their back on Muslims and began destroying them, presumably thinking that it is better to kill Muslims (the alien) than their fellow Christians- the Serbs. In point of fact, Tudjman and Milosevic had secretly agreed to divide Bosnia into a Serb and a Croat part. Sells' book lucidly divulges the crucial role of Christian fanaticism and mythology in allowing for the genocide of Bosnian Muslims to occur. This is truly a well written, well argued and thoroughly documented account of the Bosnian war. Highly recommended.
Book Description
From the best-selling author of The Bookseller of Kabul, an account of thirteen ordinary Serbian people and how their lives changed before, during, and after the fall of Milosevic.
From beloved international reporter Åsne Seierstad comes a remarkable exploration of the lives of ordinary Serbs under the regime of Slobodan Milosevic-during the dramatic events leading up to his fall, and finally in the troubled years that have followed. Seierstad traveled extensively through Serbia between 1999 and 2004, following the lives of people from across the political spectrum. Her moving and perceptive account follows nationalists, Titoists, Yugonostalgics, rock stars, fugitives, and poets.
Seierstad brings her acclaimed attention to detail to bear on the lives of those whom she encounters in With Their Backs to the World, as she creates a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation made up of so many different-and often conflicting-hopes, dreams, and points of view.
Customer Reviews:
An Education on the Balkans.......2007-09-19
I would recommend this book to anyone who would like more insight into the conflict in the Balkans. Being of Serbian/Croation/Czech descent, I spent my childhood years (in the 50s and 60s) listening to tales of "Yugoslavia" from my grandparents. Reading this book took me back to those days and also gave me an insight into what has happened to the country since then from the viewpoint of "average" people in Serbia. The bottomline is: all people are really the same; they want to contribute, they want to raise families and all are at the mercy of their governments who many times make decisions that affect the people in a negative way. Read it and you'll see yourselves no matter where you're from.
Personal Portraits of Serbians.......2007-06-22
I very much enjoyed this book. The author covers individual serbs. She displays a deep effection for the people of Serbia. The book profiles by chapter ordinary people and politicians and journalists. I thought the author did a good job of covering a wide collection of perspectives, a Titoist, a follower of Milosovich, a democratic reformer, a wheeler/dealer/con man, a journalist. I thougth the portrait of the rock singer was the most engaging. Very nice read and I thought presented a human face to a country that in the west is vastly misunderstood.
Average customer rating:
- Insightful reporting from a different perspective
- The genocide of Muslims by Christians in the 1990s
- Awsome history graphic novel
- An Intimate look at Bosnia via graphic novel format
- A Graphic Documentary, Not a Comic Book
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Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995
Joe Sacco , and
Christopher Hitchens
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
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Palestine
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The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo
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War's End: Profiles From Bosnia 1995-1996
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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
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Notes from a Defeatist
ASIN: 1560974702 |
Book Description
A landmark work of New Journalism is now available in softcover.
Safe Area Gorazde is Joe Sacco's 240-page opus about the war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water.
The hardcover edition of Safe Area Gorazde put Sacco on the map as one of the pre-eminent journalists of his time, and the softcover edition will present his work to a wider audience. The book has been prominently featured in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Time, Utne Reader, Spin, The London Times, The Washington Post, Brill's Content, several NPR programs, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, and other media. The book also led to Sacco being named a recipient of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. Safe Area Gorazde features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for The Nation and Vanity Fair.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful reporting from a different perspective.......2006-10-17
Joe Sacco, Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 (Fantagraphics, 2002)
Joe Sacco's spent some time in Gorazde after things calmed down a bit over there-- got to know the people, talked to them a lot, blended in with the scenery. He drew them, related their words, drew the things they saw and experienced day to day. Safe Area Gorazde is the result.
If you're used to either the current spate of war memoirs or the current spate of graphic novels, Safe Area Gorazde will likely seem familiar, yet still somewhat out of place. It is a book that resides comfortably in neither category, but I can't quite call it a successful cross of the two; it's too narrative for graphic noveldom, while being too impressionist to really classify as a war memoir. This is not to say that the book is bad by any means; there is a great deal to be absorbed here, and given the short shrift received by the plight of Gorazde as it was happening in the American press, far more Americans should be absorbing it than already have. Sacco has a gentle, self-deprecating humor, and the kind of ear that turns even the most unpleasant interviewee into a sympathetic character. As well, while most of Sacco's drawings are straightforward-- there are an almost unsettling number of scenes in this book featuring a single character against a monochrome background, as if being interviewed on a talk show (or up against a wall being faced by a firing squad)-- every once in a while one pops out that makes you realize that, yes, there's a war going on in Gorazde as Sacco is conducting these interviews. The scarcity of the out-and-out brutal pictures makes them all the more effective in Sacco's pastiche of desperation, loss, and ever-present gallows humor.
Good stuff, this. ***
The genocide of Muslims by Christians in the 1990s.......2006-09-01
I just finished reading this brilliant work. I was in Eastern Europe in 1991-1993 and saw the refugees coming out of Bosnia. I followed the story as close as I could, even visting a refugee camp. But Sacco's illustrations put me on the ground in the supposed safe zones. The brutality of the supposedly Christian Serbs to Muslim Bosnians is so overwheliming it makes any beheadings in Iraq look like a birthday party in comparison.
The book also does a nice job giving the history of the war, including the role Clinton played, for those who don't remember the 1990s. Please rread this book. You can do it in a day.
Awsome history graphic novel.......2006-01-16
A graphic novel that reveals the history of the Bosnian war and cleansing of Muslims and Crotians by the Serbs.Novel is by Joe Sacco a Journalist and cartoonist. He also has writtin other graphic novels.
An Intimate look at Bosnia via graphic novel format.......2005-09-22
Safe Area Gorazde shows on a personal level what people went through during the oftentimes savage Serbian war on Bosnia in the early nineties. In typical thug fashion, the Serbians managed to violate every aspect of diplomacy as they quite literally butchered and stole their way through the eastern regions of Bosnia. Joe Sacco does a good job capturing the tragedy and the emotion of the situation, though I must admit that I found his art to be very distracting. For what it is, however, the art is internally consistent and well done.
Comparisons to Joe Kubert's "Fax from Sarajevo" are inevitable. As journalism, "Safe Area Gorazde" is a much superior work, though as a comic book, "Fax from Sarajevo" is far, far better. But then, Kubert is a grandmaster of the craft, after all, just as Sacco is more directly experienced with graphic-format documentaries.
Fortunately, you don't have to choose between the two. You can (and should) read them both!
A Graphic Documentary, Not a Comic Book.......2005-04-04
A tremendous achievement. As he did with the Pulitzer-award deserving "Palestine," Sacco again journeys into a people's culture and history with an unerring eye and ear. This time he focusses on Bosnia in the mid-1990s and he relates the horrific genocidal actions against the Muslim Bosnians in the enclave of Gorazde beautifully. This is a gem of a book that demonstrates that graphic novels (and documentaries) can pack as powerful an emotional punch as any piece hanging in a museum or exhibited in a thetaer. Bravo!
Average customer rating:
- The fight for freedom- of the press and of the people
- Essential reading from ýBooks on Bosniaý
- bad writting , fishy explanation of what happened
- The Truth is in Here!!!
- Could not be any better!!
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As Long As Sarajevo Exists
Kurspahi ,
Kemal Acc , and
Kemal Kurspahic
Manufacturer: Pamphleteer's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0963058770 |
Customer Reviews:
The fight for freedom- of the press and of the people.......2000-06-21
I may be biased because I have worked with Kemal but I have to say that I truly enjoyed this book. as an American I never fully understood what happened in Sarajevo- why it happened or the extent of the conflict over there. After reading this book I was rather ashamed that the rest of the world did nothing. Worse, we continue to allow atrocities to be perpetuated in that corner of the world. This book remains topical. Conflicts continue to erupt in the region and anyone who wants to speak intelligently on the subject, understand the story that's not in the news or would like to read about an un-sung hero, read this book. Kemal is presently working on a new book and reading this one would be a great starter. I would read this book over and over again. Its the story of people fighting for democracy and freedom (focused on freedom of the press) and the long bloody road that lay in front of them.
Essential reading from ýBooks on Bosniaý.......2000-02-24
This memoir by the editor-in-chief of Oslobodjenje from 1991 to 1995 bears unrivalled witness to the resilience and survival of an operative civil society in Sarajevo under siege. Under Kurspahi 's editorship the paper came to symbolize the resistance of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its people to genocidal aggression and to terrible deprivation, while at the same time maintaining its journalistic integrity and critical independence when to do so was hard indeed. (This short review is from "Book on Bosnia" published by The Bosnian Institute)
bad writting , fishy explanation of what happened.......1999-11-17
bad writting , fishy explanation of what happene
The Truth is in Here!!!.......1998-11-02
What struck me the most about this book was what Kurspahic wrote about Sarajevo losing its essence when it got partitioned and lost its multi-cultural character. Being a Singaporean, I wouldn't recognise my home if Malays, Indians and Chinese, and Eurasians were segregated and prevented from entering each others' "zones", risking my life whenever I did so. Singapore would just cease to be a home and I think it's devastating that we saw that happen to Bosnia. And guess what? We celebrated it as a victory of diplomacy over force! Kurspahic's is a truly inspirational book, which proved that there is always honesty, grit and principles left in the world when all else seems to have disappeared. All we need to know about the Bosnian War is in here. It has also shown that the West has a limited understanding of whatever happened and it is amazing how the majority of the press in the world is dominated by these half-lies.
Could not be any better!!.......1998-03-18
A great piece of work about a city which was once a center of everything, and became the center of terror in past couple of years. Sarajevo will always be remembered for starting WW I with assassination of Archiduke, and for hosting the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. However it will be mostly remembered by this terrible war that has struck the city. While the citizens sat in their homes sheltered somewhat from the granades and bombs, all the "big shots" decided to play God, and decided to play with the destiny of so many lives. Instead of acting quickly at the beginning to stop the war, they just let it slide away from their hands, simply because they saw no interest, no mone out of doing that. However, Sarajevo stuggled and won by itself, alone, but as long as Sarajevo exists so will everything else. Read this book it is a masterpiece in descibing everything and anything you wanted to know about Sarajevo and Bosnia.
Books:
- 55th North Carolina in the Civil War: A History And Roster
- A BLUE WATER NAVY: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War 1943-1945, Volume Two, Part 2
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- Across Five Aprils
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- Battle Colors: Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II: Vol.1: (VIII) Bomber Command
- Be Expert With Map and Compass: The Complete Orienteering Handbook
- Benedict Arnold's Navy
- Beyond Valor: World War II's Ranger and Airborne Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat
- Burnt Offerings (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 7)
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