Amazon.com Reviews
My War Gone By, I Miss It So is a fiercely compelling and beautifully written personal account of the Bosnian war. The book alternates between Anthony Loyd's experiences in Bosnia and personal reflections of his time in the British army, his parents' divorce, his estrangement from his father, and his heroin addiction. Loyd describes the war at eye level: detailing the way bodies look after they've been shot or blown up, looking through the sights of a Muslim gun trained on a Serb soldier, traveling with a French mercenary, and fleeing from advancing Serbs during battle. The book is filled with firefights and mutilated corpses and is not for the squeamish. Bosnia was "a playground where the worst and most fantastic excesses of the human mind were acted out." For Loyd, the high of battle substituted for the high of heroin and vice versa: "I had come to Bosnia partially as an adventure. But after a while I got into the infinite death trip. I was not unhappy. Quite the opposite. I was delighted with most of what the war had offered me: chicks, kicks, cash and chaos; teenage punk dreams turned real and wreathed in gunsmoke."
Loyd's big break as a war correspondent came when another British journalist was wounded. He had arrived in Bosnia a war junkie, just trying to figure out what was going on and sell a few pictures to newspapers on the side. "Journalism in itself had never really interested me, I saw it only as a passport to war." He did not cover the war like most other journalists--he went right into battles. Loyd dismisses what other journalists did in Bosnia: staying at the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo, driving out to the UN headquarters in an armored car, and then returning to the relative safety of their hotel "to file their heartfelt vitriol with scarcely a hair out of place." Loyd, who did everything but carry a gun against the Serbs, scoffs at the idea of journalistic objectivity. "What good did reporting ever do in Bosnia anyway?" he sneers. In fact, he seems almost embarrassed not to be fighting himself. "I felt I was a pornographer, a voyeur come to watch." Lucky for the rest of us he did go to Bosnia. --Linda Killian
Book Description
Nothing can prepare you for Anthony Loyd's portrait of war. It is the story of the unspeakable terror and the visceral, ecstatic thrill of combat, and the lives and dreams laid to waste by the bloodiest conflict that Europe has witnessed since the Second World War.
Born into a distinguished military family, Loyd was raised on the stories of his ancestors' exploits and grew up fascinated with war. Unsatisfied by a brief career in the British Army, he set out for the killing fields in Bosnia. It was there-in the midst of the roar of battle and the life-and-death struggle among the Serbs, Croatians, and Bosnian Muslims-that he would discover humanity at its worst and best. Profoundly shocking, poetic, and ultimately redemptive, this is an uncompromising look at the brutality of war and its terrifyingly seductive power.
Customer Reviews:
Remarkable book.......2007-03-31
This is an amazing account of a terrible war, and it's beautifully written. If you don't know the background of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, be sure to read a quick history online first to fill you in. But don't let a lack of knowledge of the situation deter you from reading the book - it's incredible.
re-reading it........2006-07-07
It is a positively realistic book. I understand his connection between addictions. One in his blood by choice the other not. So to those not capable of digesting the dark observations of this story, stay away. There is a reason people will take vacation to Disney World and not Baghdad. Lets be glad that there are Loyd's who have the stomach to see these things, and the head to write the story.
Not good.......2006-05-30
I don't like British people: fokking Beitish. Let me explain. I dislike and despise the Average Joe London, the man of the streets, the Cockney accented bastard; the people from mining towns, the soccer fan mobs, bent on drinking and destroying. To hell with them all. I also intensely dislike the radical democratic, skeptical, agnostic way of thinking responsible for the parliamentary revolutions, reicides, and the collapse of the British Empire: Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Bertrand Russell: hang them all. Now here comes this book, written in that tradition by an eminently unknown journalist. He is a total anti-hero: atheist, drug user, heroine addict, lacking visions and ideals. The only thing I appreciated in the book is his description of his relationship with his father and the few references to the cowardice of the UN during the Bosnian conflict. A few fleeting references to the evil harboring in people's hearts deserved to be developed further. All in all a disappointing book.
Sorry, I am not loaded.......2006-01-03
A messed up report of a messed up war by one very messed up dude. Sounds more like a drug log than any reporting. The haze of drug abuse makes the atrocities reported more like a drug dream, remote that is, than any reality. Found the book incoherent. For a more coherent report read "Love Thy Neighbors" by Peter Maass.
Honest and raw.......2005-09-26
Very enlightening accounts of wars (Bosnia and Chechnya) that haven't got enough attention in the US. Much of the book deals with the author's drug addiction and his relationship with his father. I wanted more war stories but I found the other things surprisingly interesting as well.
Average customer rating:
- An Extraordinary Book - Will Enlighten and Challenge Us All
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Kosovo : Contending Voices on Balkan Interventions
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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ASIN: 0802838898 |
Book Description
Powerful commentary on the most volatile international event of the year--the conflict in Kosovo.
This is the first book in any language to bring together--in powerful point-counterpoint format--political, ethical, and cultural commentary on the Kosovo conflict by internationally renowned contributors. Also woven into the book are moving firsthand stories of the suffering Balkan people.
Composed of some sixty essays written in dialog with one another, the book contains assessments by noted politicians and analysts (Henry Kissinger, Juergen Haberman, Zbigniew Brzezinski), government officials (Javier Solana, Kofi Annan, Vaclav Havel, Morton Halperin), award-winning journalists (Mark Danner, Tim Judah, Robert Kaplan), human rights advocates (Julie Mertus), theologians and ethicists (Jean Bethke Elshtain, Brian Hehir, David Little, Vatican Archbishop Tauran, Stanley Harakas), historians (Miranda Vickers), military leaders (General Wesley Clark), and many other key figures.
This book also includes photos, maps, a time line, a list of key names, NATO objectives, and online resources for further study of this critical regional conflict with worldwide implications.
Customer Reviews:
An Extraordinary Book - Will Enlighten and Challenge Us All.......2003-09-24
I could not put this book down. The author explores the various sides, themes, and politics of the Balkan crisis. No voice is silenced but all voices are given time to speak. It is fair, accurate, and unbiased in its look at the terrible crimes perpetrated on the Bosnian people. Beautifully written and full of compassionate insights.
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.
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- 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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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!
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War in the Balkans
Eric Micheletti , and
Yves Debay
Manufacturer: Histoire & Collections
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Average customer rating:
- Good Start
- Greg Campbell - You're a great writer
- A good quick read on the Balkans
- No thanks
- Clear, well organized, and to the point.
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The Road to Kosovo: A Balkan Diary
Greg Campbell
Manufacturer: Westview Press
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ASIN: 0813337674 |
Amazon.com
In the summer of 1998, freelance journalist Greg Campbell got into a rental car in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and drove across Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro into Kosovo, where Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic had recently begun stepping up an ongoing "ethnic cleansing" campaign against the ethnic Albanians who make up the majority of the region's population. Staying with local journalists--some of whom were also part of the underground Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)--Campbell was forced to confront the consequences of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
But, he notes, what happened in that region is equally, if not ultimately, the consequence of the ineffective "protection" offered by NATO forces, including American troops. Drawing on his observations from a 1996 trip to Bosnia, Campbell elaborates upon the unwillingness of those in command of the implementation (later known as stabilization) forces, or SFOR--particularly the American commanders--to do anything more than the bare minimum required by the 1995 Dayton peace accord. Consequently, many Serbian war criminals enjoyed continued liberty, civil unrest continued to flare, and SFOR blamed local authorities for not solving the problem. Under those conditions, Campbell argues, it was inevitable that Kosovo would become another Bosnia.
The Road to Kosovo provides valuable background on the conflict between the Serbs and the Kosovars and NATO's track record in keeping the peace in the Balkans. It is also filled with chilling images of the chaos and terror of modern war. The book should be read by anyone hoping to understand why the 1999 intervention by NATO could take place--and how it might have to differ from earlier actions in order to be judged a success. --Ron Hogan
Book Description
Updated with two new chapters from his most recent 1999 trip to Kosovo, the author observes the on-the-ground impact of the peace agreement with Milosevic and the NATO peacekeepers' efforts to repair the region
This first-person, on-the-road travel adventure takes us through one of the most dangerous and hate-filled regions on earth-the former republics of Yugoslavia-and into a land still reeling from months of brutal combat. Told in a fast-paced, rollicking style that's funny, sad, thoughtful, and at times horrifying, The Road to Kosovo shows us war and the struggle for peace through the eyes of a young journalist. Two new concluding chapters, written after the author's 1999 visit to Kosovo, provide a rare, on-the-ground assessment of the impact of the NATO peacekeeping mission and the peace agreement with Milosevic. The poignant scenes of death, confusion, and hopelessness that Campbell observes -not from media tents but from the homes of locals, in their bars, and on the side of the road-hearken ominously back to the first days of the peace mission in Bosnia. A vivid, uneasy picture emerges of a region resistant to lasting peace.
Customer Reviews:
Good Start.......2002-04-06
I think this book details why politicians and large political / military organizations like NATO have such a difficulty in successfully performing low level military conflicts like the peacekeeping effort in the Yugoslavia region. This book details by representing the destruction and ongoing fighting, just how ineffective the peacekeeping process was at the start due to a half-hearted commitment by the political leaders. The military in the conventional sense, is not a police force or social working group, the purpose of the military is to destroy the enemy. When asking this force to go about a job they are not designed for with one hand tied behind their back and the constant fear of every decision being second-guessed, is there any surprise that the effort did not work for some time.
I think this book provides one with a good start to understanding the civil war in Kosovo. I think one would need more details to have a better understanding of what will need to take place for this area to live in peace. A good follow up would be to read Waging Modern War by Wesley Clark.
Greg Campbell - You're a great writer.......2001-04-18
Well,first of all I must admit that I'm halfway the book now but I'm already able to recommend this book. I had a library copy at home when I bought this book and to be honest I was sorry I did that because I could read the book for free BUT in the very first pages thanks to the writing of Mr.Campbell I have congratulated this book for getting a place in the bookshelf of mine called "Only the best books I've ever read in my life". This book is so good as it tells things as they were.Mr.Campbell tells the truth and doesnt sympathise anybody except the justice. His writing is amazing and you wouldn't be surprise when you get transfered so easily into a strange world full of mysteries. I try to buy every single book about my country and I have plenty of those but "The Road to Kosovo" is the best one. I'll finish by saying -Even if you read 100 books in this subject you wont be able to find as much true information as in this one. And YOU'LL GET TO KNOW THE BOSNIA,KOSOVA AS YOU KNOW YOUR OWN COUNTRY - AND THAT'S ALL THANKS TO GREG CAMPBELL
A good quick read on the Balkans.......2000-05-15
The Road to Kosovo A Balkan Diary was a good fast read. I found his experiences similar to a "road trip" I had taken through the R.S. and Croatia with Bosniak License Plates while on vacation during my year working for the U.N. The book gives you a good feel for a foreigner's impression of the area.
No thanks.......2000-03-26
I have never read a more cynical writer than Campbell. He shows no restraint in his description of Kosovo,in his opinion,nothing more than ugly brown hills with "ragged" natives. He spends much of his time ridiculing albanians and where they live.I used to live in Kosovo,and i can assure you it wasn't that bad. As for the serbs,they get treated a bit differently. Apparently,the serbs aren't really bad people,just led by manipulative leaders. Utter nonsense. Serbs might not agree with Milosevic on most things,but they agreed with him on Kosovo. Blaming evil leaders is far too convenient.
Clear, well organized, and to the point........1999-07-06
I felt like I was there with Campbell as he tried to sort out the good guys from the bad guys without getting shot by either. His analysis of the Balkan quagmire, while presented in clear, logical language, does not give me much hope for a happy ending anytime soon over there. I understand Campbell is going back over there shortly. I look forward to reading what his take is on the changes that have occured since his last visit.
Book Description
"For people who still are wondering what was happening to the conscience of the West toward Bosnia since 1991,
This Time We Knew: Western Responses to Genocide in Bosnia is must reading."
--Universal Press Syndicate
"
This Time We Knew is a work of scholarship that aspires to be an act of conscience -- and succeeds in its aspirations."
--Los Angeles Times
We didn't know. For half a century, Western politicians and intellectuals have so explained away their inaction in the face of genocide in World War II. In stark contrast, Western observers today face a daily barrage of information and images, from CNN, the Internet, and newspapers about the parties and individuals responsible for the current Balkan War and crimes against humanity. The stories, often accompanied by video or pictures of rape, torture, mass graves, and ethnic cleansing, available almost instantaneously, do not allow even the most uninterested viewer to ignore the grim reality of genocide.
And yet, while information abounds, so do rationalizations for non-intervention in Balkan affairs - the threshold of real genocide has yet to be reached in Bosnia; all sides are equally guilty; Islamic fundamentalism in Bosnia is a threat to the West; it will only end when they all tire of killing each other - to name but a few.
In
This Time We Knew, Thomas Cushman and Stjepan G. Mestrovic have put together a collection of critical, reflective, essays that offer detailed sociological, political, and historical analyses of western responses to the war. This volume punctures once and for all common excuses for Western inaction.
This Time We Knew further reveals the reasons why these rationalizations have persisted and led to the West's failure to intercede, in the face of incontrovertible evidence, in the most egregious crimes against humanity to occur in Europe since World War II.
Contributors to the volume include Kai Erickson, Jean Baudrillard, Mark Almond, David Riesman, Daniel Kofman, Brendan Simms, Daniele Conversi, Brad Kagan Blitz, James J. Sadkovich, and Sheri Fink.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments1. Introduction - By Thomas Cushman, Stjepan G. Mestrovic
2. The Complicity of Serbian Intellectuals in Genocide in the 1990s - By Philip J. Cohen
3. Bosnia: The Lessons of History? - By Brendan Simms
4. No Pity for Sarajevo; The West's Serbianization; When the West Stands In for the Dead - By Jean Baudrillard
5. Israel and the War in Bosnia - By Daniel Kofman
6. The Politics of Indifference at the United Nations and Genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia - By Michael N. Barnett
7. The West Side Story of the Collapse of Yugoslavia and the Wars in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina - By Slaven Letica
8. Serbia's War Lobby: Diaspora Groups and Western Elites - By Brad K. Blitz
9. Moral Relativism and Equidistance in British Attitudes to the War in the Former Yugoslavia - By Daniele Conversi
10. The Former Yugoslavia, the End of the Nuremberg Era, and the New Barbarism - By James J. Sadkovich
11. War and Ethnic Identity in Eastern Europe: Does the Post-Yugoslav Crisis Portend Wider Chaos? - By Liah Greenfeld
12. The Anti-Genocide Movement on American College Campuses: A Growing Response to the Balkan War - By Sheri Fink
13. Western Responses to the Current Balkan War - By David Riesman
Appendix 1. A Definition of Genocide
Appendix 2. Text of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Appendix 3. Indictments by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Customer Reviews:
An intellectual tour de force!.......2004-10-07
Cushman and Mestrovic demonstrate without a doubt that the war in Bosnia was a genocide. They provide unequivocal proof and overwhelming evidence that the war in Bosnia was not a civil war but a clear case of a Serbian aggression. This book offers an exhaustive account of the most egregious crimes committed in Europe since World War II. By arguing that the West not only failed to protect the Bosnian Muslims but also denied them the right to defend themselves by imposing the weapon embargo, Cushman and Mestrovic masterfully analyze the West's inability to put an end to the bloodshed. Thus, by imposing the weapon embargo, the West in effect denied the Bosnian Muslims the right to defend themselves. Facing an extremely powerful Serbian aggressor, the Bosnian Muslims were practically powerless and defenseless. Furthermore, this book shatters once and for all the myth of collective guilt, i.e. the equal guilt of all three sides in Bosnia. As Mestrovic and Cushman correctly point out, only the Serbs in Bosnia committed systematic war crimes including rapes and torture in an attempt to cleanse the area of all non-Serbs and create a "Greater Serbia". The evidence in support of these claims is abundant and has been extremely well documented by many fact-finding organizations including the Human Rights Watch, the Amnesty International, the War Tribunal in the Hague etc. One of the most gruesome massacres in Europe since World War II took place in Srebrenica. Led by the notorious war criminal Ratko Mladic, the Serb forces killed approximately 10,000 Muslims, one of which was my grandfather. My grandmother survived the massacre and was able to give a detailed account of the true scenes from hell. Following their own official investigation into the events in Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb officials just recently acknowledged that they were responsible for the massacre. It took them eight years to issue an official apology. As a result of the Serbian aggression, approximately 250,000 people were killed and many expelled from their homes.
In conclusion, this book provides a meticulously researched account of the most abhorrent crimes in Europe since World War II. It offers compelling evidence and countless examples that the war in Bosnia was a genocide. It completely destroys the myth that the war in Bosnia was a civil war. Strongly recommended!
The cover says it all........1998-11-20
The book cover shows who is responsible for this war. Draped in Serb paraphenilia, thugs like those pictured here, destroyed Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and now Kosovo and Vojvodina. What many refuse to acknowledge is the West's gross involvement in these wars and their overt and covert support for the thugs in the picture.
Excellent, well-researched........1998-06-09
Once again Mestrovic brings together some of the best writers and historians to put the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina into context. Everyone should read this book!!!
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
"If you can read just one book about Bosnia, this is it." --The Washington Post
Taking its place on the short list of essential books about the Bosnian struggle, Blood and Vengeance succeeds in putting a human face on the conflict, rendering its devastation comprehensible to Western readers. Perhaps the most notorious and disputed outrage of the war was the massacre of as many as 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica. Although previously designated a safe area by the United Nations Security Council, Srebrenica was overrun by General Ratko Mladic's Bosnian Serb forces while U.N. peacekeeping troops stood by impotently.
With novelistic eloquence and journalistic acumen, Sudetic follows several generations of the Celiks, the Muslim family he is related to by marriage, which met their tragic destiny at Srebrenica. His indelible portrait of these inhabitants of a remote mountaintop village outside of Srebrenica not only illumines the historical context of the tragedy but, more important, reveals the human impact of the horror. Blood and Vengeance contains the sweep and power of a panoramic historical painting, yet possesses the heartbreaking intimacy of a family snapshot.
* Named a New York Times Notable Book and One of the Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly and the Washington Post
"Superb. . . essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the war in Bosnia." --The New York Times
"[A] triumph." --Chicago Tribune
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!
Amazon.com
Left in tatters after the violent breakup of Yugoslavia, the new country of Croatia has served as a troubled crossroads between East and West since the Dark Ages. Veteran journalist Marcus Tanner set out to write the recent history of this nation, but found it impossible to cover the 1990s without referring to World War II, and impossible to write about that period without going back even further. So he begins his account in the 7th century, covers Croatian history in a brief but thorough manner, and spends the final third of his book describing how Croatia regained its sovereignty in 1992. A glut of books on the Balkan War give short shrift to this intriguing story. Tanner corrects this problem with a fine and unique contribution.
Book Description
In this book an eyewitness to the breakup of Yugoslavia provides the first full and impartial account of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Croatia from its medieval origins to today's tentative peace. Marcus Tanner describes the turbulence and drama of Croatia's past and--drawing on his own experience and interviews with many of the leading figures in Croatia's conflict--explains its violent history since Tito's death in 1980. This second edition updates the account and follows Croatia's progress to democracy since the death of President Franjo Tudjman.
Customer Reviews:
Where's the bloody stains of Jasenovac?.......2005-07-27
Many leaving reviews for this book are taking time and space to re-write history. It would be humorous if it weren't so sad that grandiose national insecurity complex of Croatia. Always the victim to the Serbs. To clarify a quick matter, no gun was put to the head of Croatia at the conclusion of WWI to join up with Serbia as a kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes. This was a willful act of their intellegencia, but, as history shows us, it was not backed by their masses influenced by their hate filled demagogues. This was the conception of Yugoslavia.
Perhaps I missed the chapter dedicated to the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Serbs, Jews & Gypsies at the Aushwitz of the Balkans, Jasenovac, during WWII. When books depict the Croatians as accepting their history of lust for blood, then that book will be worth 5 stars.
good but lacking.......2004-09-10
This is a decent book which provides some insight into the struggle of the Croatian people. But it fails to provide the most important information. That is, the background of how Serbian and communist domination and hegemony forced all people of the former Yugoslavia to want to break free from oppresion. I lived in Zagreb in the late 1980s and the fact is that Serbs dominated Police, Military, Education, Politics, Diplomacy throughout Croatia. The fact is that Croatia, a fairly developed republic had to give most of its income to the YU government in Belgrade. The fact is that the Croatians were not allowed to show any national (not nationalistic) pride. How would we Americans feel if we were not allowed to display our flag, sing our anthem or criticise the governemt. That's how it was. The YU constitution allowed for separation of the individual YU republics if so elected in a public poll, which 94% of Croatian inhabitants did. Croatia offered Belgrade a loose confederation at first but Belgrade replied with terrorist attacks. On a personal basis Croats don't hate Serbs. They just wanted their own country, flag, governemtn and peace. If you look at the history, Croatia due to its natural richness and location, was constantly under attack or occupation. Including by the Serbs. But since the Serbs were the ruling republic, they wrote the history books. Why do you think Croatia is always singled out as an ally to Italy/Germany and Serbia isn't? Serbs wrote the history. Serbs were allies with Germany as well. They had brutal forces like the chetniks who killed tens of thousands of Croatians and Bosnians. But that is not common knowledge. But the anti-Nazi uprising started in Croatia, not Serbia. That's something to think about. So, this book is good, but lacks deeper explanations of the reasons behind the conflict.
Seems Good, But Hard To Tell!.......2003-01-25
My fiancee and I were both really eager to read this book, we'd heard good things about it and are planning a trip to Croatia. Unfortunately, it's so poorly typeset that it's a real struggle to read! We both got about 15-20 pages into it and just couldn't continue, we were getting headaches (no joke). The problem is that the text is just too densely set, there's no breathing room whatsoever. Yale Press has a done a real disservice to the author.
Good, but Simple.......2002-06-26
Tanner is neither a Croatian nor an academic, and this limits the book in both understanding and the depth of its research. And yet, the book is successful all the same. It is a quick and accurate overview of Croatia's long and complicated history. Useful for those new to the region and its issues. Some of Tanner's conclusions (particularly those for the most recent events) are decidedly pro-Croat nationalist (unabashed support for Tudjman and the HDZ), and the still-important WW2 events are not carefully considered. But overall, it is a good, if simple book. You may want to complement it with Goldstein's history as well.
Good, but............2000-12-07
The book was informative, but it did not go into great detail. The period of 1918-41 was glazed over in a few pages, and the extent of Serbian tyrrany and crimes were not fully covered. The massacre of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators on Ban Jelacic Square (where democratic Croatian protesters were gunned down by the Serbian genedarmerie occupation police) on December 5, 1918, was not mentioned, nor the Brusane massacre, nor the Sinj massacre; nor the extent of Serbian domination and hedgemony in the police and military, as well as the brutal repression of ethnic, civil, human, and national rights. One cannot just breeze over the banning of all free speech, press, assmebly, and culture; nor the Serbian police force's beating, jailing, and liquidation of the democratic opposition. Unfortunately, Lampe, Judah, Tanner, and many others do; by doing so, they commit the fallacy of denying the antecedent. Mr. Diljas accuses Tanner of using "predominately Croatian and pro-Croatian sources;" well, can Mr. Diljas tell us who those sources are? If that downplays the legitimacy of the book, how would Mr. Diljas explain the legitimacy of his books (being that he is a Serb and a Communist) and books written by Serbs and Communists over this past century. Thus, it would be that Mr. Diljas and most books written about Croatia and the ex-Yugoslavia (and all of the former Republics) were not and are not free of Serbian nationalistic and Communist idealistic romanticism, and should be read with Critical reserve.
Amazon.com
Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia. Today's headlines could have been written in the 1800s or in the 1400s. Conflict has raged unabated in the Balkans for hundreds of years and always, writes historian André Gerolymatos, over the same tired issues: nationalism and religion.
"Post-Cold War Europe and North America are at a complete loss to understand why these small countries are hostages to the past and seem so willing to fight the same battles all over again," writes Gerolymatos. This book attempts to offer answers, as Gerolymatos explores the ethnic and religious tensions that plague the peninsula--and that have been used by foreign powers (whether Ottomans, Hapsburgs, or NATO) to extend their hold on the Balkans. Along the way he examines events that have little meaning for outsiders, but that have signal importance for the region: the Battle of Kosovo and the strategically more significant Battle of Marica, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914, the collapse of Yugoslavia. Gerolymatos offers a useful essay for anyone who would seek to understand contemporary events in southeastern Europe, events with deep and bitter roots. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
A sweeping history of the Balkans that probes the ancient roots of genocidal passions in modern Europe's most volatile region.
When it comes to the Balkans, most people quickly become lost in the quagmire of struggle and intractable hatred that consumes that ancient land today. Many assume that the genesis of the past ten years of atrocity in the region might have had something to do with Tito and his repressive Yugoslav regime, or perhaps with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914. The seeds were really planted much, much earlier, on a desolate plain in Kosovo in 1389, when the Serbian Prince Lazar and his army clashed with and were defeated by the Ottoman forces of Sultan Murad I.
In this riveting new history of the Balkan peoples, André Gerolymatos explores how ancient events engendered cultural myths that evolved over time, gaining psychic strength in the collective consciousnesses of Orthodox Christians and Muslims alike. In colorful detail, we meet the key figures that instigated and perpetuated these myths--including the assassin/heroes Milos Obolic and Gavrilo Princip and the warlord Ali Pasha. This lively survey of centuries of strife finally puts the modern conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo into historical context, and provides a long overdue account of the origins of ethnic hatred and warmongering in this turbulent land.
Customer Reviews:
Uneven and Biased.......2007-05-09
This is a book with strong opinions, unfortunately, most of them are anti- Turk and pro-Greek. As one can tell from his name Gerolymatos is of Greek heritage and he seldom misses a chance to make the Greeks look like the oppressed as opposed to the oppressors. He also makes everyone around the Greeks appear to be bloodthirsty savages committing rape and pillage on a grand scale. He also takes liberties, such a always referring to Salonika as Thessaloniki, making it sound like a greek town. In fact Salonika was never more than 10% Greek prior to the two world wars (see Mark Mazower's book "Salonika").
He especially skips over the later history of the Balkans by not mention- ing the Greek-Turkish War at the end of the First World War. Could it be because the Greeks were the instigators of this war, which cost them control of the traditional Greek Orthodox areas of Asia Minor? And that after the war, almost a million greeks and turks were exchanged; thereby ethnically cleansing both countries, not to mention the number of Bulgars that were forced out of Thessaly.
This does not mean that the rest of the Balkan peoples, Serbs, Croats, Muslims (Bosniaks and Albanians), Montenegrins, Bulgars, Romanians, etc. were innocent victims. Most of these groups at one time or another spent a considerable time, killing and torturing each other as a way of clearing an area for themselves. Macedonia, which is at the confluence of four different ethnic groups (Albanians, Serbs, Greeks and Bulgars) has only been saved by the intervention of the UN and NATO, and is forced (by the Greek Government) to go by the ridiculous acronym of FYROM (former yugoslav republic of macedonia) because they claim the name as part of their heritage.
Though Gerolymatos spends a good amount of time trying to explain the reasoning behind all of this ethnic hatred, what it comes down to in the end is the same problem that there is in the middle east. There are too many groups claiming the same land as their 'historical' heritage. In truth, most of the groups that are now there, are interlopers and came in and killed most of the indigenous people as they fled from the Mongols and Huns. The Bulgars especially are documented to have had a kingdom in the area around the Caspian Sea before they migrated to the Balkans. The Serbs claim Kossovo because they lost a battle there over six hundred years ago; even though even before the wars of the 1990s, they represented less than 15% of the population (the rest is mostly muslim Albanians).
So what we have here is a good deep background which for some reason ends at the beginning of WWI, hardly mentions the rest of the twentieth century until we get to the 1990s. It's reasonably good for what it does, but not for what it doesn't do.
Lastly, the true major failure of this book is its' lack of maps. The only one included is the boundaries of 1913 just after the two Balkan Wars, and then many of the towns mentioned are not included. It makes no sense to be discussing movements of armies when you don't understand what it means in the way of geography. I know that Gerolymatos teaches in Vancouver, BC, Canada, but I can't believe that Canadians are any better at geography than the average American. It's always helpful to see what you are reading about without having to find an atlas first.
Not sufficiently anti-Serb to suit the Ministry of Truth.......2005-08-13
The inclusion of several pages of photographs of the civilian victims of the 1999 NATO attack on Serbia in a book that otherwise barely mentions the Kosovo war betrays the author's pro-Serbia bias, implying that Serbs are human beings too. This is doubleplusungood, comrades, and smacks of thoughtcrime. All ranting aside, this is an informative but not very well organized survey of Balkan history. There are interesting accounts of various episodes such as the Battle of Kosovo and the death of Ali Pasha, but it never really hangs together. The account of the 1912-13 Balkan Wars themselves is merely a chapter of dull military history. However, I read it all the way through, which I never do with a truly bad book. Read it and then look in the bibliography for more comprehensive Balkan histories.
The Balkan Wars.......2003-11-04
Certain populations seem destined for greatness. Others seemed forever cursed by their very existence. Unfortunately for residents of Southeast Europe, the latter is much more the case than the former. In his important work The Balkan Wars, Andre Gerolymatos illustrates how war and brutality have made life for Balkan residents as bleak as their geographical landscape.
Gerolymatos randomly moves between the recent past and distant history to show how little has changed in the psyche of Balkan soldiers. Brutal murder and rape are not new concepts to the region. Ethnic cleansing is not a new concept, and has been around since Christian and Muslim first fought over disputed territory. Political upheaval through assassination, and suppression of nationalism through dehumanizing acts of violence, span the centuries in this war-torn region. The Great Powers are in part responsible as their only interests in this part of Europe seem to be when geopolitics suits their needs.
Gerolymatos covers his subject well, though he may give too much credit to Austria-Hungary as a true world power, and he rarely fails to mention the role sex played in the material he covers. He offers solid evidence of the role the Eastern Orthodox Church played in its unique position of dominance within a Muslim imperial capitol city. Maps would have made the book more easily understood, but careful reading reveals the deep knowledge the author has of the subject.
This book is ready to take a prominent role in works on this subject, and offers some of the better details of the 1912-3 Balkan Wars that set the stage for World War One.
An impressive contribution to European History Studies.......2003-09-15
The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, And Retributions From The Ottoman Era To The Twentieth Century And Beyond by Andre Gerolymatos (Chair of Hellenic Studies, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada) is an intensely detailed chronology of bloodshed and territorial strife in the Balkans, ranging from the excesses and outrages of Ottoman era to the genocides of the twentieth century including the recent brutalities of "ethnic cleansing". Focusing primarily on the clashes between different ethnic groups over land (sea battles, according to the author, deserve separate and more detailed treatment), The Balkan Wars strives not only to present a straightforward account of a history free from exaggeration or myth making, and also answers core questions about the roots of the wars and ethnic violence that have habitually plagued the people of this land. The Balkan Wars is very highly recommended reading and an impressive contribution to European History Studies.
Entertaining but tragic history.......2003-03-26
The violence in this book is so appalling that it becomes almost amusing after a while.There is far more emphasis on violence than on culture. Some of the anecdotes are interesting, and nearly mythical in their dimensions, particularly the ones occurring in the 14th century--but also the stories surrounding at least two 20th Century political assassinations, stories surrounding the figure of Ali Pasha(and of the legendary Albanians who would not submit to his rule), the incredible brutality of the Turks against the Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople during the Greek Independence Rebellion,and also against the Armenians, the story of the occupation of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, and the like. One regularly encounters decapitations, genocide, highway banditry, and irregular armies in this book. There is also some extensive discussion of the role of Europe (and Russia) in diplomatically resolving the conflicts in the region.
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- N or M? (Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries)
- Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror
- Operation Barbarossa in Photographs: The War in Russia As Photographed by the Soldiers (Schiffer Military History)
- Oral & Intravenous Bisphosphonate-Induced Osteonecrosis of the Jaws: History, Etiology, Prevention, and Treatment
- Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert
- Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th
- Restoring Your Digestive Health: How the Guts and Glory Program Can Transfom Your Life
- Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East
- Room 40 : British Naval Intelligence 1914-18
- Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis
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