When History Is a Nightmare : Lives and Memories of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina [Hardcover]

Stevan M. Weine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

When History is a Nightmare is an impassioned investigation of how collective memory has shaped history and lives in the Balkans. And how the mishandling of memories of traumatization actually made ethnic cleansing possible. Weine explores how Tito's government pushed memories of World War II ethnic atrocities aside and allowed the Bosnian value of "merhamet", meaning forgiveness and charity, to flourish in the era of living together. But Bosnians were left unable to recognize ethnic nationalism -- and unprepared to defend themselves. He then offers a vivid look at the other side: how Serbian nationalists leaders Jovan Raskovic and Radovan Karadzic manipulated and spread memories to propel Serbs towards genocide. When History is a Nightmare concludes by probing Bosnians' efforts after ethnic cleansing to reconcile their remembrances of living together in multi-ethnic Bosnia with the memories of ethnic atrocities -- a struggle over memory for the Bosnian future.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The title suggests that this is a journalistic account of the Bosnian war, but it is not. Weine, codirector of the Project on Genocide, Psychiatry, and Witnessing at the University of Illinois in Chicago, seeks to elucidate the complicated conflict by emphasizing the psychology of everyone involvedAincluding those responsible for making ethnic cleansing part of our vocabulary. Weine sums up his argument precisely when he quotes from UlyssesA"History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake"Asaying that the core problem lies in the inability of the Balkan peoples to deal with history in the right way. Weine's attempt is admirable and sincere, but as an outsider he fails to see how intricate the conflict really is; it is severely stereotypical to assert that the post-World War II years were essentially about suppressing bitterness and hatreds. In addition, he neglects the crucial question of why so many were unable and unwilling to distinguish between their nationality and religion. Nevertheless, chapters on the leaders of the recent genocide in Bosnia are particularly interesting, and those with little knowledge of the conflict will find this accessible introductory work helpful.AMirela Roncevic, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Weine's history, based on survivors' testimonies, produces a history with human faces that is more capable of helping us to fulfill promises then so many Holocaust claims of 'Never again!' Bosnians will be grateful for this book" -- Tvrtko Kulenovic Ph.D., University of Sarajevo and former president of P.E.N. Bosnia-Herzegovina

Robert Coles, M.D. author of Children of Crisis and The Moral Intelligence of Children: "An extraordinary effort, on part of an American psychiatrist, to understand a terrible European tragedy that still puzzles and haunts us. The result is a compelling series of human documents-stories from Bosnia that will bring the suffering there close to our minds and hearts, awaken and inform us mightily." -- Robert Coles, M.D. author of Children of Crisis and The Moral Intelligence of Children

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813526752
• ISBN-13: 978-0813526751
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,757,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a powerful, impressionistic account of the Balkan horrors, January 31, 2001

By 

Christopher Robertson "ctr" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When History Is a Nightmare : Lives and Memories of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Hardcover)

Weine's book is by no means narrow in its subject-matter. He touches on: inter-ethnic marriage, criticisms of the United Nations, memory as a ground for social morality, the challenges of refugees in America, the construction of psychoses, the social deification of doctors, urbanism, the identity of Europe and the Balkans, the impact of communist cultural censorship, fundamentalism, the social responsibilities of psychiatrists, the need for a permanent UN war crimes court, and discontinuities in the lifepaths of trauma survivors. Any one of these issues could have been the topic for his relatively short 230 page book. But together, they paint a picture of the multifaceted chaos that is ethnic conflict. We get the sense that nothing here is simple, that everything is interconnected, and that the ethnic cleansing is not a psychiatric, geographic, military, or political issue, but fundamentally a human problem of persons.

So if you are looking for a deep and careful study of the psychological issues that afflict ethnic cleansing survivors, then I suppose that this book is not your source. If you want, on the other hand, a compelling and touching tour through a recent crisis of human history and a casual chat with a knowledgeable, connected, and compassionate person,then Stevan Weine's book is the perfect choice...END