With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia [Paperback]

Asne Seierstad (Author), Sindre Kartvedt (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2006

From beloved international reporter Åsne Seierstad comes a remarkable exploration of the lives of ordinary Serbs under the regime of Slobodan Milosevic-during the dramatic events leading up to his fall, and finally in the troubled years that have followed. Seierstad traveled extensively through Serbia between 1999 and 2004, following the lives of people from across the political spectrum. Her moving and perceptive account follows nationalists, Titoists, Yugonostalgics, rock stars, fugitives, and poets. Seierstad brings her acclaimed attention to detail to bear on the lives of those whom she encounters in With Their Backs to the World, as she creates a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation made up of so many different-and often conflicting-hopes, dreams, and points of view.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After covering the 1999 NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia, Norwegian journalist Seierstad (The Bookseller of Kabul) found herself wondering about the Serbs—a "people that started one war after another, and lost them all." In 2000, she returned to explore the lives of 13 Serbians. Her account is noteworthy for casting a broad net and for her involvement in their everyday lives—in the field with a farmer, in a secret studio with a journalist, on the street with a black marketeer, attending marathon services with a cleric, even performing with a rock star. Her timing was also serendipitous: in spring 2000, she witnessed the rallies that ultimately toppled Slobodan Milosevic; that October she watched thousands of protestors take over Belgrade, the parliament and the state TV station. Seierstad allows each subject his or her own voice: a stalwart Milosevic supporter longs for a new dictatorship; another claims there was "never any ethnic cleansing of Albanians"; a student activist hopes for membership in the EU. A disturbing enmity toward the U.S. and Muslims runs through many Serbs' accounts. "Great wars," Seierstad observes, "start out as folk songs and camp-fire stories, and end in genocide and bloodbaths." (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This collection of decidedly journalistic pieces exposes the many sides of Serbian life before, during, and after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic's corrupt totalitarian regime. Seierstad puts a human face on the myriad troubles the Serbian people have endured as well as propagated, and like all outstanding journalism, the stories are powerful enough on their own without any proselytizing on the part of the author. The portraits profile prominent figures, to be sure (Zoran Zivkovic, who briefly became prime minister of Serbia after Zoran Djindjic was assassinated, in 2003, and Rambo Amadeus, Serbia's most innovative rock star, among others), but not surprisingly they are eclipsed by the more compelling farmers and mothers and even criminals who are the most unhesitant in offering their opinions and sharing their griefs. What results is a kaleidoscopic view of the events and personages that caused the downturn and dissolution of Yugoslavia, eventually transforming the Serbs into the self-described "pariahs of Europe." This 15-part harmony is fascinating reading for anyone wishing to uncover the stark humanity hiding beneath one of the world's most troubled and confused regions. Ian Chipman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Tra edition (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465076025
• ISBN-13: 978-0465076024
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > History > Europe > Serbia
  • #13 in Books > Travel > Europe > Serbia & Slovenia
  • #14 in Books > History > Europe > Yugoslavia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Education on the Balkans, September 19, 2007

By 

Avid Reader "Veronika" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia (Paperback)

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like more insight into the conflict in the Balkans. Being of Serbian/Croation/Czech descent, I spent my childhood years (in the 50s and 60s) listening to tales of "Yugoslavia" from my grandparents. Reading this book took me back to those days and also gave me an insight into what has happened to the country since then from the viewpoint of "average" people in Serbia. The bottomline is: all people are really the same; they want to contribute, they want to raise families and all are at the mercy of their governments who many times make decisions that affect the people in a negative way. Read it and you'll see yourselves no matter where you're from.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Personal Portraits of Serbians, June 22, 2007

By 

W. Holston (dallas, tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia (Paperback)

I very much enjoyed this book. The author covers individual serbs. She displays a deep effection for the people of Serbia. The book profiles by chapter ordinary people and politicians and journalists. I thought the author did a good job of covering a wide collection of perspectives, a Titoist, a follower of Milosovich, a democratic reformer, a wheeler/dealer/con man, a journalist. I thougth the portrait of the rock singer was the most engaging. Very nice read and I thought presented a human face to a country that in the west is vastly misunderstood.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC writing, and I was very skeptical of yet another Balkan story...., December 11, 2008

By 

avid reader & polka music lover (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia (Paperback)

Wow. I finished this book several weeks ago and, although I do not usually write reviews, I was moved to do so for this book. This is the first book I have read by this author and I look forward to reading more of her work.

DISCLAIMER: I was very skeptical what I would learn from yet another book about the Balkans and the current life struggles of its peoples. My family emigrated to the U.S. from this area and, although my 'clan' left 100+ years ago, most of our extended family stayed and we have remained in contact with them and have visited the area several times over the years (most recently in Fall 2008). I also have taught ESL to dozens of Balkan refugees of each nationality and religion, and have many 2nd and 3rd generation, and recent refugee, Balkan-American friends. On my family's Fall 2008 trip we toured several former-Yugoslav republics with our family who lives in the region. We were surprised by what we saw and heard from and about the Serbs and the Bosnian Serbs.

I was extremely impressed with the author's insight into Serbian culture, and the past and current worldview of Serbs from diverse walks of life. Her selection of folks from various walks of life could hardly be improved. I found her treatment of Serbian prejudices (and other far less intense attitudes) toward other Balkan peoples, the rest of the world, the West in particular, and most particularly AMERICANS deadly accurate.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this tremendously well-written and frighteningly accurate portrayal of present-day Serbs and their attitudes to anyone interested in understanding, or struggling with understanding, the hows and whys of this extremely difficult Balkan group. Its contents illuminate all too well how (and why it is) extremely unlikely true Serb integration into Europe, the West and the first world will be in the decades to come.

This book would be EXCELLENT READING MATERIAL for an advanced undergraduate course, or GRADUATE COURSE on East Central Europe, international relations, diplomacy or anthropology.

A powerful, insightful, very well-presented read.