Friday, August 18, 2006

Books: Reading List

Here are just some of the books on Balkans that I haven't read yet; but hope to read someday.
If you have read any of these books; please feel free to give me your opinions, both positive and negative.

Book: Genocide in Bosnia
Author: Norman Cigar
Book Review
Why I want to read it: According to reviewer and Bosnia expert, Noel Malcolm, Cigar's book is "lucidly presented, cogently argued and fully supported by a mass of carefully analysed detail[s]" From the review, this book seems like a carefully written, well researched documentation of the genocide; from the perspective of an American military expert.

Book: Through Bosnian Eyes:The political memoirs of of Bosnian Serb
Author:Mirko Pejanovic
Book Review
Why I want to read it:
The unique perspective of a Bosnian Serb politician who worked for a multinational, militating Bosnia.

Book: This Time We Knew: Western responses to genocide in Bosnia
Author: Multiple
Book Review
Why I want to read it Unlike the previously mentioned books, I have actually seen this book on the shelf before. This book, written in the form of essays looks at the woefully reaction of the West to genocide in Bosnia. In my senior year of college I had completed a class on political lobbying and interest groups; therefore, the chapter on the role of the Serbian American lobby looks to be of particular interest.

Book: Raw Memory: Prijedor, Labatory of Ethnic Cleansing
Authors:Isabelle Wesselingh, Arnaud Vaulerin
Book Review
Why I want to read it In 1992, "concentration camps in Europe" brought the world's attention to Bosnia. This looks like a well researched and interesting look at the ethnic cleansing campaign, as well as the long term effects of the genocide on the victims, perpetrators and others.

Book: The Killing Days
Author: Kemal Pervanic
Why I want to read it This book tells the first hand account of survival of a concentration camp from the perspective of survivor and activist, Kemal Pervanic.

Book: Srebrenica: a genocide foretold
Author: Sylvie Matton
Book Review
Why I want to read it Relying on rare interviews, and a plethora of documents; this book looks like a meticulously researched account of the role the international community played in the fall of Srebrenica.

6 comments:

Srebrenica Genocide said...

Shaina,
try Noel Malcolm - Short History of Bosnia.

Ops, my break is over, got2 go back to work.

Shaina said...

hi Dan,

I have read "Short History of Bosnia" it was a very well written book; concise, scholarly and very accessable.

I do want to re-read it again though.

Bg anon said...

My war gone by I miss it so by Anthony Lloyd.

Trusted Mole by Milos Stankovic.

The former is the tale of a journalist who 'loses it' in Bosnia. Great book, his honesty is brutal.

The other one is about Stankovic's experience in Bosnia as a Major in the SAS (peacekeeping forces). Some very revealing comments about the whole situation. Particularly fascinating is his experience on missions to Pale - how he was treated, what he thought of the Bosnian Serb leadership etc.

I strongly recommend both books.

Another book worth reading is the one about the role of the different diasporas. Paul Hockenhos or something similar I think is the author.

Shaina said...

I've also read Lloyd's "My War Gone By, I Miss it Over."

I agree; very honest and brutal and graphic-in describing both the Croat-Muslim conflict and the Chechen conflict.

I haven't read the other books though; and would like to check them out.

Shaina said...

ugh- meant "My War Gone By, I miss it SO."

lol

Kirk Johnson said...

"This Time We Knew" has a lot of great essays.

"Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West" by David Reiss might seem a little dated, now that the war is over, but NOBODY does a better job of conveying moral outrage and sheer disgust at the shameful behavior and cowardice of the West in Bosnia. This book packs a punch.