This Is Serbia Calling (Five Star Fiction S.) [Paperback]

Matthew Collin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Five Star Fiction S. | Publication Date: October 8, 2004

This is the story of a courageous group of young people living under Milosevic's repressive rule who waged a 10-year battle for freedom, armed only with a radio transmitter, some rock'n'roll records, and a dream of truth, justice and another kind of life. It's a book about a group of idealists who started out wanting to play good music over the airwaves but had to negotiate two wars, economic sanctions, police violence and government crackdowns, armed gangsters and neo-Nazi politicians. They called themselves Serbia's lost generation; the government called them traitors, spies and terrorists. Despite police raids and state censorship, they refused to be defeated, and kept on broadcasting their message. "This is Serbia Calling" chronicles a decade (1990-2000) in which the legendary radio station B92 kept alive the voices of dissent. This second edition brings the story up to date as Serbia struggles to come to terms with the post-Milosevic era, in which its former president is put on trial for war crimes and its new Prime Minister is assassinated. This is a new edition with new postscript by the author.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Collin has not only found a way into the psyche of intelligent, tolerant young people suddenly swamped by a tide of fascist hate... he also shows how pop music can still ignite change, or quietly save souls, when life arrives at its most extreme' Uncut; 'Matthew Collin captures the conviction of a generation whose culture and identity were under siege' Independent on Sunday"

About the Author

Matthew Collin has worked as a magazine editor, a foreign correspondent, a broadcast journalist and a features writer. He has been the editor of the Big Issue, the Time Out website and i-D magazine, and has worked in news for the BBC World Service. He has also written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Observer, Independent, Moscow Times, Face and Mojo. His previous books, This is Serbia Calling and Altered State, were also published by Serpent's Tail.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Serpents Tail (October 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852427760
• ISBN-13: 978-1852427764
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,884,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Serbs Who Stood Against Milosevic, June 13, 2011

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haregrog "haregrog" (Wilmington, NC United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: This Is Serbia Calling (Five Star Fiction S.) (Paperback)

"This Is Serbia Calling" provides one of the best available narratives of the beleaguered Serbian resistance to the dead-end oppression and hopelessness of the Milosevic regime of the 1990s. Original interviews with key players--including some who remain at odds with each other--give this book its authenticity of perspective and its welcome humanity.

My only complaint would be with the way this book is promoted; I was kind of expecting a Balkan version of "Pirate Radio," but this is a more serious historical rendering, and a much wider overview than just a story of the day-to-day running of an independent radio station. The picture that emerges of B92 is multifaceted, tremendously clear-eyed, and inspiring, but B92 is only one strand within the larger narrative here of the resistance in general.

Collin's book stands perfectly well on its own, but also makes a nice companion piece to the first-person narratives of Zograf's "Regards from Serbia" and Tesanovic's "Diary of a Political Idiot." Accessible and enlightening--even kind of fun in places--this is a worthy entry, occupying its own special niche, in the literature on post-Tito/post-Yugoslavia Serbia.

(Note this obviously appears to be the same book, under different title and cover, as "Guerrilla Radio: Rock 'N' Roll Radio and Serbia's Underground Resistance.")