Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Dutch Private First Class Marc Klaver peered into the predawn darkness..." (more)
Key Phrases: entire safe area, other peacekeepers, further air strikes, Bosnian Serb, Close Air Support, Captain Groen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Journalist David Rohde was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for his reporting on the Bosnian city of Srebrenica. After the United Nations' "safe haven" fell, Rohde investigated reports of massacres, and was arrested by Bosnian Serbs while investigating mass graves near the town.

In End Game, Rohde tells the entire story of the fall of Srebrenica, in which 7,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed, making it the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. Rohde's reporting is prodigious, and as the narrative progresses the book picks up power as a series of events, presented in a matter-of-fact manner, come together and the reader sees how a village was obliterated, with many of its inhabitants killed and hidden in mass graves.

The book is disturbing, particularly because Rohde calmly shows how the horrors of Srebrenica could have been avoided. The conflict in Bosnia has perhaps been a puzzle to many, and this book will do much to give the horrors a human face.

From Library Journal

Srebrenica, a small city in eastern Bosnia, is the latest shameful name to emerge from the tragic disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rohde (Christian Science Monitor, New York Times) investigated the massacre of 7000 Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995 and was subsequently arrested by the Bosnian Serbs. Here he tells the story of the massacre and its aftermath through the eyes of seven people who were there: two Serbian soldiers, two Dutch peacekeepers, and three Muslim civilians. This is an effective way to depict a gruesome and infuriating event. Rohde argues that the fall of Srebrenica could have been prevented, but he is ultimately unable to explain the "collective failure" of the United States, the United Nations, and NATO in stopping the massacre. His investigation is carefully documented by over 300 footnotes. This is an important and revealing book for most public and academic libraries.?Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; 1 edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374253420
• ISBN-13: 978-0374253424
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #938,450 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and moving, well researched and documented book, May 4, 2000

By	ptitchitza (Leiden, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endgame: The Betrayal And Fall Of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II (Paperback)

Brilliantly written and meticulously documented, with extensive notes about the sources, this book reads in one go and rewards the reader with a 'multi-dimensional' picture of the horrible events in Srebrenica providing also a social and political frame that will bring closer and elucidate the complexity of the war in the former Yugoslavia. Real-life characters are described vividly, one gains impressions about their character, reasoning and motivation. For one of the episodes mentioned in the book, that took place in Zagreb, I have a first-hand experience and was amazed how accurate and live Rohde's descriptions were. Srebrenica is a tragedy for the Dutch as well and as a foreigner living in the Netherlands I am glad that the role of the Dutch UN contingent was also documented with all their limitations and frustrations from acting within the framework of the United Nations. The truth is never "in black & white" and this book provides a number of colors and nuances in-between that will help you understand not only the tragedy of Bosnian war but a tragedy of ignorance mixed with indifference that was spreading like a cancer through the West, and elsewhere, with a shallow notion that all this was happening 'light-years' away in some far away, forgotten country, whereas in actuality it was all only couple of hours on a flight from world metropolis.

Several maps included in the book will help you follow the ten-day period and progression of the events this book describes. One of the protagonists, Drazen Erdemovic, was in the meantime sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Browsing through some of the (public) court documents on ICTY's web site provides a good opportunity if you're looking to expand your knowledge of the subject, especially since another Srebrenica protagonist - R. Krstic, a Bosnian Serb army officer promoted to the rank of general in June 1995, who commanded the units of the Drina Corps of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) that shelled Srebrenica and attacked the UN observation posts - is currently on trial.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Face of Evil, June 6, 2000

By	R. A Forczyk (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a well-written, journalistic account of the fall of the Srebrenica safe haven in Bosnia in July 1995. The story is told from many viewpoints, including Bosniacs, Serbs and Dutch UN troops. The Dutch battalion looks criminally negligent in its inability to stop a Serb force that barely exceeded four tanks, 200 infantry and a few mortars, from overrunning the town. Serb and Bosniac tactical abilities also appear sloppy; Serbs fought a 9 to 5 war and then went home and got drunk. The UN sat on its hands and did as little as possible. The maps in this book are excellent. The only weakness of Rohde's account is a certain ignorance of military affairs, which impacts upon the portayal of Serb and Dutch relative capabilities. Once the town falls, the face of evil struts onto David Rohde's stage in the form of General Ratko Mladic, who lies to the press while ordering the massacre of hundreds of prisoners. While the exact total number of Muslims who died as a result of the fall of Srebrenica remains uncertain, Rohde does yeoman work in piecing together the final moments of hundreds of the victims. If anyone cannot undertsand why Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are indicted war criminals, read this book.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here is your answer., June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Endgame: The Betrayal And Fall Of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II (Paperback)

This book should be required reading, especially for those who are unable to comprehend why America is still maintaining a presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, six years later. The book does not deny that atrocities were committed on all sides of the Bosnian conflict. It simply relives the horror of genocide perpetrated on a single city by a power-hungry dictator and his military leader, both wanted for war crimes against humanity. As an American who lived in Bosnia for over a year, I have spoken with survivors on both sides of the war, and Rohde's story rings true. While there are critics of his account, the genocide of Srebrenica can be denied no more than can the Holocaust; 7,000 men do not simply disappear and mass graves do not lie. Rohde does a wonderful job re-telling the cruel truth of that city's fall, as well as exploring the failure of the leaders of the international community in fulfilling obligations to the victims while covering their own political hides and again turning a cowardly eye to blatant genocide in Europe. A great book, one that I intend to keep and share with others who blindly ask "Why should WE be in Bosnia?" Here is your answer.