19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly involving and impartial, December 29, 1999
By A Customer
Misha Glenny is an expert on the wars in ex-Jugoslavia. An Englishman, and a speaker of Serbo-croat, Glenny takes his reader through the mess that was the Yugoslav civil war, with eyewitness accounts that display both humanity and at other times extreme brutality. One thing in particular I must commend Glenny on is his refusal to classify the Serbs as the only bad guys, or the only instigators of the war (as much Western media has done). He places blame on various players: Milosevic, Serb paramilitaries, Bosnian politicians, Franjo Tudman and his nationalitic cronies, Germany, etc... This book invokes great sympathy in its readers for all the victims of the war:Muslims, Yugoslavs, Serbs, and Croats. He usually carefully distinguishes between the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army and the nationalistic Serb new-Chetnik gangs who were the primary brutes involved in civilian atrocities; an important distinction. However, if you do not already have a general knowledge of the region's history, this book may at times be a bit confusing. Although many of his statements on Kosovo are innacurate, I don't find that to be highly relevant to the overall book. Highly recommended!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Detailed, pithy, first-hand narrative for Balkan aficionados, October 27, 1999
By A Customer
Having worked in Bosnia in the late '80s, this book has particular relevance for me. I know the place names, the people, the locations and the language. Those 4 characteristics seem essential for gleaning a lot from this book, since the events it describes, as Mr Glenny readily admits, were felt to be so confusing for "Western" television audiences that some events were at times misrepresented altogether.
Irrespective of that requirement for basic (historical) knowledge about the conflict, I believe that this is a superlative example not solely of journalism on the go, but of weaving together the actions of the various actors - people, governments, movements, acronyms - into a coherent frame. To say that "sanctions should not be imposed on either Serbia or Croatia" undermines much of the political rhetoric spewed out by Western nations, explicitly recognising the futility of NATO or anyone else do to ANYthing about the multitude of conflcits that took place simultaneously: we can't do anything about it, so lets impose some sanctions.
This is not a book for the novice, however, since novices cannot be expected to understand the wealth of detail at any more than the most superficial level. Unfortunately, such is the nature of popular journalism, TV viewers will never be anything but novices - shocked by images for a few seconds, but not really understanding WHY anything happens. Unfortunately, it seems that politicians didn't understand why either, and many of the problems resulted from inappropriate actions taken in consequence.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eastern Europe Lover, July 7, 2001
Absolutely stunning. This book is a must for anyone who is interested in the Balkans. Mishy Glenny's account of this last decade was captivating from beginning to end, (despite the small print). I would describe it as a real eyeopener for someone who's only familiarity with this area was the second world war and what the media told us during the 90's.
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