Customer Reviews

Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I served in Bosnia with IFOR from Jul to Dec 96, and visited Sarajevo. I wished I had known of this book before I went, because it was the best narrative of the war I have read. This book was superb because it helped me feel what the Sarajevans felt, and see through their eyes what life was like in their city during the long siege. It also helped me better understand the mixture of cultures that was so abhorent to the Serbs who tried to crush this wonderful city. I am truly glad they failed. Sarajevo today is a bustling thriving city, and it will triumph over the unconsciousable attempts of its enemies to destroy it. This is largely due to the courageous efforts of people like those who produced Sarajevo Daily.

Having worked for IFOR and SFOR as an Army negotiator and now married to a Bosnian, I am compelled by appreciation to comment on the profound depth and accuracy Mr. Gjelten achieved in exposing the psyche and drama of this war through individuals he met there. Although the book centers on the newspaper and the city, it is also the story of most of Bosnia - the heroes, the villains, the heartbreak, the insanity, the desertion of life-long friends or spouses due to nationalism fueled by propaganda. Propaganda that generated fear and hatred. I have heard similar stories from other parts of Bosnia. To my knowledge, this is the only book that provides such a clear portrayal of the way it was (and in some ways, the way it still is). I am saddened that the book was not financially successful enough to remain in print. I would definitely recommend it to any persons, particularly Civil Affairs types, that go to Bosnia and deal one-on-one with the people there. I apologize that I have neglected to remark that Mr. Gjelten also wrote this book in a very readable style and he is an excellent story-teller. For me, it is one of those books that I will be reading repeatedly over time.

As a broadcast jounalist in the US Army deployed to Sarajevo, I found the book extremely interesting. It laid out the history of the entire region and how Sarajevo's newspaper grew from a communist run party paper to one of the best in this area of the world. The book primarily deals with the 3 1/2 year seige that the city was put through by the Serbian army and how it's multi ethnic staff worked together during harsh times. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn more of what the city went through and how the comflict effected everyone in the region. SSG Beau Bennett, US Army

Since Yugoslavia disintegrated, there have been dozens of books written about the region, its history and the troubles there. Some are good, a few are excellent, but most are lacking. Sarajevo Daily sadly falls into the latter category. Gjelten uses the cities daily newspaper Oslobodjenje as a metaphor for the the destruction of Yugoslavia and as an example of the painful bloodletting Sarajevo experienced. The idea works to some extent, and the book is well written - Gjelten is a journalist, after all. But it is the way in which the topic is approached that left me wanting. There is no doubt that the violence in Sarajevo was heart-wrenching. Yet one cannot help but think that events there are greater than the daily challenges of a newspaper and its staff. A better book by far is Misha Glenny's The Balkans.