Safe Area Gorazde s/c
Praised by The New York Times, Brill's Content and Publishers Weekly, Safe Area Gorazde is the long-awaited and highly sought after 240-page look at war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco (the critically-acclaimed author of Palestine) spent five months in Bosnia in 1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim-held enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco lived for a month in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water. Safe Area Gorazde is Sacco's magnum opus and with it he is poised too become one of America's most noted journalists. The book features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for The Nation and Vanity Fair.
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Community Reviews
Weirdly enough very good. I saw he had written books called Palestine so I kinda assumed he may be some weirdly biased political pundit as even his fans claim he is biased in those books. But what I read here is quite factual and historically focused with a critical look on stories he was told that seemed off fact wise. I guess it's easier to stay neutral on the issue of Bosnia. He travels with UN to Gorazde then back to Sarajevo a few times over to conduct interviews with the Muslims. Bosnian Serbs have started a full scale genocidal civil war against the Muslims and even Croats. Wiping out whole towns digging mass graves for civilians. UN tries to supply food, but the Bosnian Serb army still attacks UN held towns even kidnaps UN staff to force NATO to not air strike. They keep genociding until USA says stop and bombs their tanks. At this point Croats deliver blows on the ground and the Bosnian Serb army is pushed back forced into negotiating a peace deal with shared leadership of Bosnia instead of becoming part of Serbia or basically part of Serbia.
It's a lot of war presented in a way that's actually quite readable. Fast pace with plenty of people, with the gruesome scenes not shocking at all as it's all drawn. Still it's quite a bit of murders and deaths. The journalist keeps flirting with women much younger than him. But is seen as a geek so it doesn't look like sexual tourism though not because of lack of trying :-) There are some panels wit him in them that are more disgusting than even the dead bodies. And one wonders why he included that part or what the underlying intentions are. At the end he himself kinda looks like this creepy guy who's luckily plain looking enough so that nothing bad happens to people around him. I don't know what happened, but the comic book appears this way storywise. I'll try to read more of his Bosnia books as he keeps a clear head on this conflict. I would have loved a Kosovo book too from someone. Anyone.
It's a lot of war presented in a way that's actually quite readable. Fast pace with plenty of people, with the gruesome scenes not shocking at all as it's all drawn. Still it's quite a bit of murders and deaths. The journalist keeps flirting with women much younger than him. But is seen as a geek so it doesn't look like sexual tourism though not because of lack of trying :-) There are some panels wit him in them that are more disgusting than even the dead bodies. And one wonders why he included that part or what the underlying intentions are. At the end he himself kinda looks like this creepy guy who's luckily plain looking enough so that nothing bad happens to people around him. I don't know what happened, but the comic book appears this way storywise. I'll try to read more of his Bosnia books as he keeps a clear head on this conflict. I would have loved a Kosovo book too from someone. Anyone.
