Bulletins from Serbia: E-Mails & Cartoon Strips Frm Beyond the Front Line [Hardcover]

Aleksandar Zograf (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Slab O Concrete (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1899866310
• ISBN-13: 978-1899866311
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,683,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Both amusing & saddening, but always fascinating, October 28, 2000

By 

"ragamala78" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bulletins from Serbia: E-Mails & Cartoon Strips Frm Beyond the Front Line (Hardcover)

"Bulletins from Serbia" is a collection of emails and cartoons (there aren't enough cartoons, its almost all emails) from a Serbian cartoonist to his friends and colleagues all around the world during the NATO bombing of Serbia.

In many ways, a book like this is better history than books by professional historians. This book isn't tainted by writing for a specific audience, its just one man's feelings about life during wartime and the little things that make life more difficult or more pleasurable in adverse circumstances.

There is one cartoon I liked in particular that shows all the Serbian citizens (those that were not to blame) celebrating the fact that friendly, smart bombs were being dropped on them and not mean, stupid bombs. This is obviously a jab at some of the new politically correct military jargon that smooths over the fact that people are being killed, infrastructure and beloved landmarks destroyed as well as ruining the lives of those that survive.

Even with all that, this book is actually unbiased. Zograf considers himself apolitical from what I can tell. He just wants the war to stop. He feels for the suffering people no matter what their race or religion. He mentions feeling terrible for innocent Albanians and Serbians. He even mentions feeling sorry for NATO pilots because of what they are having to do.

I think more than anything, the book provides a nice glimpse of the alienation and desperation that common people feel when their homeland is being destroyed. He hypothesizes that war doesn't punish the guilty it only punishes the innocent. (i.e. how approval ratings of the different sides soared: Clinton, Milosovich, and KLA leaders.)

At 96 pages, this short little collection is a good read. Highly recommended for an alternative view of current events.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humanizing the war, July 13, 2000

By 

Anastasios Theodorou (Waltham, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bulletins from Serbia: E-Mails & Cartoon Strips Frm Beyond the Front Line (Hardcover)

After seeing the Serbs demonized and caricatured in the news since NATO decided to have its war, it's refreshing to see a book like this come out showing that Serbia is not a nation of Milosevic clones. This public diary, by an apolitical Serbian cartoonist living outside of Belgrade, reveals the befuddlement of many Serbs at the NATO bombing, especially by those who oppose the current regime, and know that bombing will only make Milosevic stronger. The Terry Jones introduction discussing this is worth the price of the book itself.

The other thing that this will reveal to those who have only the evening news as a source for information on the Balkan conflict, is that the old Yugoslavia was not a particularly repressive place like other communist countries, but had a vibrant experimental theatre and experimental music community. When you read Zograf talking about the artistic scene in Serbia, you see that the evening news and NATO spokesperson's cartoon character of the entire Serbian population as a bunch of genocidal maniacs is nothing more than NATO's attempt to sell the war to a confused and largely ignorant public.

In addition, his accounts of what was targeted for bombing (a soybean warehouse? ) exposes the bombing for what it was: terror bombing intended to wear down the populace, not the smart bomb targeted military only bombing that we are being sold on the news. The only reason I did not give 5 stars was because I didn't think there were enough of his cartoons in it. Although the 'Smart, happy bombs' cartoon is brilliant.

Hopefully a sequel will emerge called "Bulletins from Baghdad"