The Black Book of Bosnia is comprised of four parts: "The
Legacy of the Balkans" which "explores the history of ethnic
strife and ethnic sanity in the Balkans, exposing the myth of eternal
conflict and explaining the origins of this particular conflict"
(xii); "A People Destroyed" which highlights the accounts
of "hatred, sorrow, and the despair of the ordinary men and women
engulfed in the war" (xiii); "Indecision and Impotence"
which analyzes "the conflict in strategic and political terms"
( xiii); and, "The Abdication of the West" which is comprised
of a series of editorials and basically constitutes "a call for
action and a chronology of outrage" (xiii). Each of these book
reviews and articles appeared in The New Republic magazine between
October 1991 and October 1995.
While the essays and book reviews in Part I are relatively long (between
eight and a half to seventeen pages) and detailed, the articles in the
rest of the volume are shorter in length (an average of about 3 pages).
The former are ideal for homework assignments, while the latter could
be read and discussed during a single class period.
The book is packed with revelatory information. In addition to the
history of the Balkans, the many topics addressed include the formation
and dissolution of Yugoslavia; the background, beliefs and relationships
of the major players (Serbs, Muslims, and Croats) in the area; the multifaceted
nature of the current strife; the various ethnic cleansings and genocidal
actions and who committed them; and the inaction of and appeasement
by the Western powers. A host of personal stories also provide powerful
insights into various aspects of the conflict. For example, when a Muslim
man, whose girlfriend is a Croat, was informed by an American reporter
that it was dubious as to whether the U.S. would come to Bosnia's rescue,
the young man said, "Maybe we should discover oil" (73). Speaking
about the fact that the West allowed tens of thousands of Muslims to
be killed by the Serbs, a former prisoner of the Serbs said, "If
100, 000 animals of some special breed were being slaughtered like this,
there would have been more of a reaction" (85). Such insights should
resonate with most students.
The major drawback of the volume is the limited attention given to
the various and horrendous human rights violations committed by the
Muslims and Croats. The main focus, by far, is on the intentions and
actions of the Serbs. However, as scholar Steven L. Burg (1997) notes:
"Croat forces carried out expulsions, internment, killing and atrocities
against Muslim civilians who were victimized because they were Muslims"
(430) and, "Muslim forces committed violations similar to those
of the Croats during the period of the Croat-Muslim war of 1993. There
is also evidence of persistent abuses of Serb civilians" (430).
Thus, teachers using this volume will need to seek out newspaper articles,
essays, and first-person accounts that do not flinch from the fact that
the Croats and Muslims were not altogether guiltless vis-à-vis
such concerns. Teachers will also need to obtain information about the
on-going folly of bringing the perpetrators of genocide to justice.
Notes: Steven L. Burg. 1997. "Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina?"
in Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, and Israel W. Charney (eds). Century
of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical Views. New York: Garland
Publishers, P 424-433.