Request For Information About the Bosnian War

[JeffreyWKramer]

I'm doing a fair bit of therapy work right now with Bosnian immigrants, mostly involving issues related to the War there in the 90s. In working with these individuals, I am finding out that I don't know nearly as much about this conflict as I'd like, and as I usually know about the issues I work with therapeutically, and frankly this is causing me to feel somewhat out of my depth. I want to overcome this particular knowledge gap, and since there are a lot of smart and informed individuals at CBR, including several with an interest in history, and since I really don't have time to do a really wide-ranging study of the topic, I thought I'd see if anyone here knows the name of any really good and detailed resources covering the social and human (as opposed to primarily political or mililtary) aspects of that particular conflict, and particularly any good ones focused on the Srebenica massacre of 1995, the anniversary of which is in a couple of days.

Thanks to any and all for any suggestions you can give me regarding this matter.

[Jonathan Bogart]

All I know and can recommend is Joe Sacco's "comics journalism," specifically Safe Area Gorazde (http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Area-Gorazde-Eastern-1992-1995/dp/1560973927/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215654980&sr=1-3), The Fixer (http://www.amazon.com/Fixer-Story-Sarajevo-Joe-Sacco/dp/B000W8WM0Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215654980&sr=1-5), and War's End (http://www.amazon.com/Wars-End-Profiles-Bosnia-1995-1996/dp/1896597920/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215654980&sr=1-6).

He does a good job of maintaining a balance between the historical overview of what's happening and telling the personal stories of those he encounters, interviews, and lives with. It's still nothing like a comprehensive overview of the war and its effects -- he's a journalist, not an academic -- but I found his work to be an excellent, so far as I could judge, entryway into the topic.

[JeffreyWKramer]

All I know and can recommend is Joe Sacco's "comics journalism," specifically Safe Area Gorazde (http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Area-Gorazde-Eastern-1992-1995/dp/1560973927/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215654980&sr=1-3), The Fixer (http://www.amazon.com/Fixer-Story-Sarajevo-Joe-Sacco/dp/B000W8WM0Q/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215654980&sr=1-5), and War's End (http://www.amazon.com/Wars-End-Profiles-Bosnia-1995-1996/dp/1896597920/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215654980&sr=1-6).

He does a good job of maintaining a balance between the historical overview of what's happening and telling the personal stories of those he encounters, interviews, and lives with. It's still nothing like a comprehensive overview of the war and its effects -- he's a journalist, not an academic -- but I found his work to be an excellent, so far as I could judge, entryway into the topic.

Those look quite good for my purposes, really, and probably a lot moreso than most academic histories of the subject. I'll have to check those out.

Fantagraphics has made a mint off me the past year or so.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[Slam_Bradley]

You might also have a look at Joe Kubert's Fax from Sarajevo.

Serendipitously, I just represented a Bosnian lady in a mental commitment. Well to the extent that I could represent her, she was so far gone I couldn't get her to talk to me. Very sad story her husband told of her experiences there.

[Puma]

I posted this on the Comm as well but here you go

Love thy Neighbor: A story of war by Peter Maass. He focuses on the human aspect of the conflict rather than battles and the international response.

and Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia's War by Ed Vulliamy.

[JeffreyWKramer]

I posted this on the Comm as well but here you go

Love thy Neighbor: A story of war by Peter Maass. He focuses on the human aspect of the conflict rather than battles and the international response.

and Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia's War by Ed Vulliamy.

Those sound good. Thanks, Puma. Most appreciated.

So does the Kubert book. It's Joe Kubert, after all.

[Roquefort Raider]

Those sound good. Thanks, Puma. Most appreciated.

So does the Kubert book. It's Joe Kubert, after all.

Honestly, the Sacco book is much better in terms of what you're probably looking for (what it was like, and not how dramatic a story it can make).

It's really good journalism, notwithstanding its comic-book format.

[Rob Allen]

Not quite the same war, but -

Anyone who wants to understand the NATO attack on Yugoslavia in 1999 should read Letters from the Fire (http://www.lettersfromthefire.com/main.html) by Alma Hromic and R.A. Deckert. I was cyber-acquainted with Alma and Deck around the time this was published; we participated in a newsgroup devoted to writing. The book is one of the first epistolary novels of the email era; it consists of a series of emails between an American man and a Serbian woman.

The two co-authors are married now, and Alma has had some success in the sf field. She writes under the name Alma Alexander (http://www.almaalexander.com).