Average customer rating:
- An outstanding vision of the sad reality of this world.
- Amazingly tragic and beautifully awful
- A look at the true horrors of this world!
- Amazing!! Print Quality.
- Um relato dantesco e honesto da nossa época
|
Inferno
James Nachtwey
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0714838152 |
Amazon.com
Though he is probably the world's most honored recent war photographer, James Nachtwey calls himself an "antiwar photographer," as the preeminent critic Luc Sante notes in his excellent foreword to Inferno, a landmark collection of 382 war-crime photos. Nachtwey has taken shrapnel and had his hair literally parted by a bullet, but he's never lost his compassionate outrage. The stunning images in this huge-format book--brutally abused Romanian orphans, Rwandan genocide victims, a rat-hunter family of Indian Untouchables barbecuing dinner, skeletal dehydration victims in Sudan, the miserable in Bosnia, Chechnya, Zaire, Somalia, and Kosovo--are excruciating to look at, yet impossible to tear your eyes away from. Nachtwey's art is meant to force us to face unbearable facts. Faces are the key: you can't gaze into the eyes of a Romanian toddler tied to a bed, or wired to a primitive "electromagnetic therapy" device, and not grasp the horror more fully than you would by watching a TV news item or reading a newspaper piece. (The book's text explains each photo's context.)
Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience.
Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
Though he is probably the world's most honored recent war photographer, James Nachtwey calls himself an "antiwar photographer," as the preeminent critic Luc Sante notes in his excellent foreword to Inferno, a landmark collection of 382 war-crime photos. Nachtwey has taken shrapnel and had his hair literally parted by a bullet, but he's never lost his compassionate outrage. The stunning images in this huge-format book--brutally abused Romanian orphans, Rwandan genocide victims, a rat-hunter family of Indian Untouchables barbecuing dinner, skeletal dehydration victims in Sudan, the miserable in Bosnia, Chechnya, Zaire, Somalia, and Kosovo--are excruciating to look at, yet impossible to tear your eyes away from. Nachtwey's art is meant to force us to face unbearable facts. Faces are the key: you can't gaze into the eyes of a Romanian toddler tied to a bed, or wired to a primitive "electromagnetic therapy" device, and not grasp the horror more fully than you would by watching a TV news item or reading a newspaper piece. (The book's text explains each photo's context.)Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience. Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo
Customer Reviews:
An outstanding vision of the sad reality of this world........2007-08-23
This book is not made to be placed in every hands. But everyone old enough to face the sad reality and the ugly side of the human kind should have a look at it.
Amazingly tragic and beautifully awful.......2007-08-19
I have owned this book for roughly four years now and somehow manage to revisit it at least twice a year. The images are hauntingly beautiful. Nachtwey has a real gift for photography, for capturing that perfect image, with the perfect contrast, stark, naked and vivid. I feel as if I have been not merely an onlooker of these devastatingly breathtaking images, but as though I have been there.
Inferno was the first exposure to Nachtwey I had had, and it certainly has not been the last. His work is amazing.
A look at the true horrors of this world!.......2007-08-03
Awesome, shocking, disturbing, eye opening, these just begin to describe the feelings and emotions of this book. The photographs of mans inhumanity to his fellow man go beyond those images we see on the nightly news. James Nachtwey shows us the world of war, famine and poverty. It is eye opening. For anyone who collects books of photography, this is a must, but, it is not a coffee table book. This is one that you keep in reserve for those days when you think your life if bad or tough. Take it down from the shelf, open it and realize just how hard it could be!.
Amazing!! Print Quality........2007-05-14
What can i say.
It's just wonderful print quality most of Photobook which i bouht.
and Large photo is good too.
Um relato dantesco e honesto da nossa época.......2007-05-11
Uma obra obrigatória para quem acompanha o melhor do fotojornalismo nos últimos 50 anos. Um relato duro, profundo e honesto dos horrores criados pelo homem: Romênia, Somália, Índia, Sudão, Bósnia, Ruanda, Zaire, Chechênia e Kosovo.
Ressalte-se a força extrema das composições de James Nachtwey, valorizadas pela encadernação primorosa em capa dura e pelas grandes ampliações em PB.
Um livro forte, mas profundamente necessário para quem quer reconhecer o lado menos poético do nosso tempo.
Customer Reviews:
The definitive work on Bosnia.......2000-06-14
Burg and Shoup's book will stand for some years as the definitive work on the Bosnian war and the missteps of international intervention there. It is a must read by anyone interested in what happened in that mountainous Balkan country.
This book is rather detailed and is not meant to be a 'quick read' for the casual reader. Instead, it uses a vast array of sources from the region as well as the Western press and interviews to make its case about the goals of the three sides as well as the desire of the 'West' to stay out of the conflict. Furthermore, it provides a much-needed and accessible overview of the various peace plans and maps which aimed at stopping the carnage in Bosnia.
It is an excellent book which sets a new standard for research on ethnic conflicts and international policy.
Book Description
This one-of-a-kind comprehensive guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina covers the natural wonders of the area, history and culture, Sarajevo festivals and nightlife, and practical information for travelers.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Buy !!!.......2007-05-13
This is an excellent book. Very well written and inspiring and funny. Bought a copy for myself adn loced it so i had to purchase another copy to give to a friend as a gift. Would highly recomend it. !
Extremely useful.......2007-02-12
I made two trips to Bosnia and both times referred frequently to this book. Mr. Clancy provides a great mix of history, geography, tourist and cultural information. His love for this country and its people illuminate every chapter. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn more about Bosnia and Herzegovina
Great help.........2006-11-03
This book help me a lot to find a right and perfect spots to visit. Thank you.
Well You Do Not Have Much of a Choice.......2006-09-08
This is the only updated guide on the area so there it might be pointless to comment on it. I'd definitely buy it because the region is quite poor on information anyway. But a lot of time the book is limited and the maps are usually quite useless.
I tried doing to walking tour in Mostar and also looked for some locations mentioned in Sarajevo in vain. Sometimes the author mentions streetnames which are not usually marked, some locations he talks about are impossible to find without asking people.
On the positive side, the author is not some dude with a backpack visiting the country. He lives in BiH and has a lot of first hand information. I wish he would share more of it with us.
The best for now.......2006-08-13
This book was recommended to me by someone living in Bosnia. It seems to be the best guide book for that area at this time. I have since found a web site that is nearly as good a starting place but has BETTER maps on the site. I would say that subsequent editions will only improve the information content.
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
"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
"This book is essential for anyone to understand the present conflict . . .a splendid work of synthesis on a very complex subject, written with insight and sympathy: the best, indeed the only informed book on a history that has become both topical and tragic."
—Sunday Telegraph
"By far the best available guide to the fatal steps to catastrophe . . . . Thoughtful, lucid, and deeply informed."
—New York Review of Books
"An extraordinary book—the best available in English on the background of the Bosnian war."
—Warren Zimmermann
former U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia, in the National Interest
"Quite simply one of the best books of historical scholarship written for a general audience in the last decade."
—New York Newsday
"An acute, readable introduction to why and how racial history has been the bane of the Balkans and why it need not be."
—Village Voice Literary Supplement
"A positive gem, the product of profound scholarship, deep reflection, and a decency of sentiment. . . There are few works of scholarship that I have read in recent decades that have impressed me as much as Noel Malcolm's."
—National Review
"A masterpiece. Few histories have made history. This one could yet do so."
—Times of London
"A marvelous book, a work of great scholarship."
—Margaret Thatcher
"A most impressive achievement . . .A firm and skillful guide to the general reader."
—Times Literary Supplement
"Will be read as the definitive work for decades to come."
—Spectator
This updated edition of Noel Malcolm's highly-acclaimed Bosnia: A Short History provides the reader with the most comprehensive narrative history of Bosnia in the English language. Malcolm examines the different religious and ethnic inhabitants of Bosnia, a land of vast cultural upheaval where the empires of Rome, Charlemagne, the Ottomans, and the Austro-Hungarians overlapped. Clarifying the various myths that have clouded the modern understanding of Bosnia's past, Malcolm brings to light the true causes of the country's destruction. This expanded edition of Bosnia includes a new epilogue by the author examining the failed Vance-Owen peace plan, the tenuous resolution of the Dayton Accords, and the efforts of the United Nations to keep the uneasy peace.
What went wrong in the country where Christians and Muslims mingled and tolerated each other for over five centuries? It was a land with a vibrant political and cultural history, unlike any other in Europe, where great powers and religions-the empires of Rome, Charlemagne, the Ottomans; the faiths of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Islam overlapped and combined. In this first English-language history of Bosnia, Noel Malcolm provides a narrative chronicle of the country from its beginnings to its tragic end. Clarifying the various myths that have clouded the modern understanding of Bosnia's past, Malcolm brings to light the true causes of the country's destruction: the political strategy of the Serbian leadership, the conflict between the city and the countryside, the fatal inaction and miscalculations of Western politicians. Putting the Bosnia war into perspective, this volume celebrates the complex history of a country whose past, as well as its future, has been all but erased. At last, here is the guide for the general reader seeking a comprehensive and accessible account of the war in the former Yugoslavia.
Table of Contents
A Note on Names and Pronunciations
Maps
Introduction
1. Races, myths and origins: Bosnia to 1180
2. The medieval Bosnian state, 1180-1463
3. The Bosnian Church
4. War and the Ottoman system, 1463-1606
5. The Islamicization of Bosnia
6. Serbs and Vlachs
7. War and politics in Ottoman Bosnia, 1606-1815
8. Economic life, culture and society in Ottoman Bosnia, 1606-1815
9. The Jews and the Gypsies of Bosnia
10. Resistance and reform, 1815-1878
11. Bosnia under Austro-Hungarian rule, 1878-1914
12. War and the kingdom: Bosnia 1914-1941
13. Bosnia and the second world war, 1941-1945
14. Bosnia in Titoist Yugoslavia, 1945-1989
15. Bosnia and the death of Yugoslavia: 1989-1992
16. The destruction of Bosnia: 1992-1993
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Customer Reviews:
Not bad, yet it could be better.......2007-04-28
The most extensive overview of Bosnia's history. It is balanced from chronological point of view. The main shortcoming is in being partial in favour of Bosnian unity and against Serbs. The author fails to mention that medieval Bosnian rulers were Hungarian vassals. While writing about historical continuity of Bosnia as the argument in favour keeping Bosnia undivided, he fails to mention that this common history did not forge common supra-national Bosnian identity which is a condition for harmonic life in some polity. Otherwise, Noel Malcolm is right that Bosnia was a victim of of Serbian aggression, yet he he is silent about Croatian aggression.
whatever.......2006-07-04
previous reviewer says Yugoslavia had 4th largest army in Europe . after the breakup of yugoslavia the army disintegrated into ethnic factions . bosnian muslims stole their portion of the Yugoslav army barracks . in addition they were recipients of weapons smuggling from middle east so far from defenseless . in the end the mighty yugoslav army was maybe in the LAST place in europe in terms of numbers and equipment . not to mention that bosnian serbs were cut off from assistance from belgrade pretty soon after the war started . milosevic was keen to appease the west around this time .
previous reviewer is typical of the half-truths propogated in the aim of demonizing the serbs.
in addition izetbegovic clearly wrote inflammatory rhetoric in his little manifesto and that is undeniable .
noel malcolm's book uses very selective archival material to support his case and ignores the majority of accepted impartial archival material in existence today . for example some of the archival material is based on what some teuton king wrote in his diary . give me a break .
Very acurate and demythologising book........2006-06-13
Here's a history of Bosnia by an unbiased outsider, or if you prefer, biased by evidence. The apologists of Serbian atrocities, such as the Canadian 'Ted', refer to Izetbegovic's intolerance, which is clearly a statement by people who are victims of pre-war Serbian propaganda that radicalised the Bosnian Serbs into assault on Bosnian Catholics and Muslims. Izetbegovic never propagated a purely Muslim Bosnia; the books by Izetbegovic these people refer to were dealing with Islam and theology in general, and never to Bosnia, which Izetbegovic implicitly admitted was impossible as the country's population consists of three peoples of almost equal size. I am no fan of Izetbegovic, but the man clearly tried the only possible solution, a multi-ethnic Bosnia. Deliberately taking statements out of context, Serbian media did present Izetbegovic as some kind of fanatic, whereas the evidence is incontrovertibly on Izetbegovic's side.
Some mujahedin fighters people are talking about here, did come to Bosnia to defend the Muslims who were attacked so brutally by Europe's fourth largest army (Yugoslavia). However, some of their methods and their presence is decried by Bosnian Muslims themselves.
All in all, this is a brilliant book, and hopefully readers won't be deterred by attacks by Serbs who've neither read the book (n)or can claim any impartiality, (n)or clearheaded criticism.
to the American people.......2006-05-02
If you read this book please be prepared to recognise that it is a completely partisan viewpoint and has little to do with history .
To Jiri , it is nice to see someone with objective view . However , you say 'I do not buy the Serbian propaganda about the "fundamentalism" of the Bosnian Islam.'
First of all this was never a Serbian propaganda claim . Please do not attribute to the Serbs statements that they have never made . However , they will point out that Izetbegovic was a particularly intolerant individual that advocated a Bosnia free of non-muslims . The civil war brought by some estimates 4000 mujahudin to Bosnia . Many of these are directly connected to Al Quaeda . That is not propaganda , that is a fact . By bombing and fighting the Serbs, the west has indirectly opened the door to fanatics into Europe . And some of those that carried out 9/11 are linked to the balkans . This is not at the very top of the headlines but it is in the mainstream press .
To the American people , wake up . Your leaders are lying to you left and right . Don't you see what heppened in Iraq ? It is all about oil , nothing else . Kosovo/Yugoslavia was also about Empire and control and it set the precedent for Iraq . WAKE UP !
History of Bosnia for the Extremely Gullible .......2006-04-02
Malcolm is an extremely bright writer with an obvious, deep scholarly interest in the subject matter, and the sort of rare grasp of general historical facts, issues, ebbs and flows, which makes his books so interesting to read and seduces many simpler souls to take them as the "ultimate" opinion. However, it becomes clear quite early in reading of his short history of Bosnia that the writer has chosen a point of view which has a way of struggling with facts. One does not have to be a specialist in Balkan history, an Oxford don, or speak two dozen languages to realize that Noel Malcolm belabours an opinion which will be hard to defend among the fair-minded.
Some efforts by Malcolm at appearing even-handed are amusing. Arguing that Bosnia was historically a political entity, and against the Serbian (,as well as, to a certain degree, the Croatian,) "myths" which see the place as its (their) national hinterland, he names two kings who ruled as Bosnian "independents" (Stephen Kontromanic,Stephen Tvrtko) who just happened to be related by blood to the Nemanjas, the ruling Serbian dynasty of the times. To deal with the undeniable fact that Tvrtko saw himself a heir to Stephen Dusan's "Greater Serbia", and naming himself as a king of Serbia too, Malcolm offers "that he never attempted seriously to exercise political power over Serbia". To a curious non-specialist like myself, this however appears entirely beside the point.
I can see where the Serbian intellectuals have a problem with Malcolm's historical stance. He acknowledges the social devastation of the devsirme (the "blood tax" on the Balkan Christians, forced to surrender their young men to the Ottoman slave army) which depopulated some areas. On the subject of the Archduke [...] he remains neutral, acknowledging Serbia's willingness to co-operate, and bloody riots against the Serbs of Sarajevo. He even grants there was a "war against a Serb population" waged in BH during WWII. However, Malcolm's technique of "handling" the historical assaults on the Serbs in the area is unmistakable. Roughly it consists of three elements: 1) diminishing the problem, 2) creating a new context for it or mangling the real one, 3) complaining about the Serbs. For example, the bloody history the Serb peasant revolts and the legendary cruelty of the Moslem Begs in the 19th century is prefaced by testimony to the Bosniak's religious purity and their high morals by foreign travelers from the East. Only then Malcolm allows that some were 'fanatics' although he immediately dismisses the argument that this was a permanent feature of Bosnian Islam. Next, he quotes one Chaummette-des-Fosses who saw the barbarity as a result of the French appearing in Dalmatia (yes, this pearl comes from Malcolm who makes it his profession to shred "myths" and idiotic theories about Balkans) and the emergence of Serbia as a state which made the Bosnian rulining class feel "...surrounded and threatened. This situation, by raising their fears,...has inspired them with a fear of seeing their raya rebel; and to keep them in check they have had recourse to barbarity". So, by this standard, it would appear, if Stalin's NKVD shot hundreds of political prisoners in Riga in September 1941, it was wholly excused by the proximity of Wehrmacht panzers. All that would need to be added by a Stalinist advocate is that the Germans themselves were criminally abusing the Russians. So Malcolm dutifully adds that Serbia, whence "those Muslims who were not massacred were expelled, strengthened the fears of the Muslim clergy." No incidents to illustrate this sweeping allegation are provided.
But it is in the chapter on the Second World War, where Malcolm really shows his intent to torture history. In the introductory paragraph he says that there were several parallel wars waged in Bosnia which were started when Germany and Italy (such a stickler for detail !) invaded Yugoslavia. Though suspicious, I was ok with the paragraph until Malcolm states that one of those "other" wars was conducted by "Croatian extremists against the Serb population...a war of aggression on one side and sometimes indiscrimate retaliation on the other". There are immediately two problems with this sort of a summary. If one would not describe the operation of SS-Einsatz Truppen in Russia as the work of "German extremists", I don't see where one could do that in the case of the Ustase paramilitaries. This appears a formula devised to confound the identities, size of the armed forces and aims and means of the struggles. Further, Malcolm's editorial sense tells him that the causal link between the "extremists" which established themselves as a state and [...] Germany needs to be revealed only in paragragh two, i.e. only after the reader learns that the people on whom a "terror and genocide" was unleashed were a pretty nasty and unruly sort themselves as they fought back.
There is a sad but true incident from Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 in which a retreating Polish army and columns of civilians descended on a German ethnic population of Bydgoscz (Bromberg) and slaughtered the lot "indiscriminately" - about 10,000 civilians. No one except [...], would see this as a proof of Polish expansionist designs or ethnic hatred that [...] invasion sought to do away with.
The alliance between the Ustashe and the Moslem Bosniaks is commented on in a very misleading, and to Serbs no doubt a sleazy, manner. Entirely missing is a frank and unamibiguous admission that the leading Moslem politicians and the bulk of the urban intelligentsia were pro-Ustashe and supported wither the status of Croatia's protectorate or some other link with Zagreb. No doubt the relationship was strained from time to time (due to some of the Ustashe "extremism" spilling on the Moslems, in some areas of BH where the Croats insisted on being the sole "Herrenvolk", and pulling out their knives on their buddies) but it cannot be denied that there were significant political affinities the between the Ustashe, and fascism generally, and the Bosnian Moslems. Malcolm admits that the Bosnian Kulenovic was the vice-president of Croatia but naming him in isolation creates an impression (,or does nothing to prevent it,) that he was a token presence in Zagreb. In fact, a score of Ustashe government and parliamentary figures recruited from Bosnian Moslems. Similarly, Malcolm omits the mention of Moslems in the regular Axis armed forces(German-Croatian units) , limiting himself to their fighting in volunteer units, the Handzar Waffen SS, and among Tito partisans. This creates the intended illusion that the peaceful Moslems who never intended to lord it over anyone were caught in the middle and were beaten by all sides. (BTW, I do not buy the Serbian propaganda about the "fundamentalism" of the Bosnian Islam. The prevaling culture and tradition there, and in this respect Malcolm seems credible, is the salafiya school of al Afgani/Abduh/Qutb as was traditioned until 1970's, which is removed from the current "puritan" Wahabi dominated jihadism. On the other hand, one should not be naive about the potential of the Bosnian links to the Islamist hotbeds).
It is then no surprise that Malcolm book which seeks to dispel "the myth" that a real conflict existed among the different communities in the 1990's misses on some really interesting historical events which shaped the latest war. The ethnic cleansing by the Bosniak-aided Ustashe around Bratunac and Srebrenica in 1941 begat the first Cetnik raids into the area, spread quickly and culminated in the wholesale slaughter of (mostly) Muslims at Foca early in 1942. Naser Oric'large-scale ethnic cleansing operations around Bratunac and Srebrenica in 1992-1993 led to the formation of the Drina brigade and Mladic' revenge on "the Turks" of Srebrenica in 1995.
In this instance, history repeated itself - and not as a farce - precisely because the actors did not learn from history. I am afraid Noel Malcolm's erudition does not help us learn the most important thing about Bosnia - i.e. that one cannot be too partisan in this end of the Earth if one does not want to end up bloody real fast !
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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- Bradt Guide: Clancy, T. (2007). Bosnia & Herzegovina (2nd ed.)
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2nd: The Bradt Travel Guide
Tim Clancy
Manufacturer: Bradt Travel Guides
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1841621617 |
Book Description
This second edition of Bradt's Bosnia and Herzegovina provides a thorough update to the first English-language guide to this ex-Yugoslavian country. Visitors are provided with ample information to explore this very different destination, including special countryside attractions such as bird reserves and vineyards. A paucity of good, reliable information on the travel shelves makes this guide especially valuable for those planning an independent tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Features include:
*Detailed coverage of the capital, Sarajevo, and the Herzegovina/Mostar region
*All national parks, with hiking and mountain walks
*Insights into people and culture: history, language, religion, myth, and cuisine
*Practical information on visas, flights, acommodations, local transport, and suggested itineraries
Customer Reviews:
Bradt Guide: Clancy, T. (2007). Bosnia & Herzegovina (2nd ed.).......2007-09-24
Very comprehensive guide book with a succint and fair hihstorical presentation. The author maintaind neutrality while carefully presented Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian views of the wars started in 1992 that ravaged the country. However, it is inexcusable to still have (in the second edition published in 2007!) "Yugoslavia consiting of Serbia and Montenegro" (p.37). Furthermore, stating that "for all practical purposes, Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian languages are one and the same" (p.47) is either ignorant or preposterous and should be taken out of this, otherwise, well researched and presented book. Several outstanding details testify to the author's understanding of the local customs: on p. 89 the description of the workings in the post office is hillarious. The culture of coffee and the special way to drink coffee in Bosnia is described on page 81.
Interestingly enough, the author had arbitrarily divided the country in six parts and dedicated one chapter to each, covering most of the interesting places, places to stay, and places to eat. I did expect a bit more about the town Pocitelj (p.176) which the Index erroneously locatesd on p. 177. Same for the town Radimlja, p. 179, shown in the Index on p.180. The map in the front calls Vetrjenica Caves, but in the text on p. 181 it is correctly spelled Vjetrenica!
Overall, an indispensable guide book for anyone contemplating to travel to these lands.
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
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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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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