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Summary: You need to know the truth. Read it...
Review: The friend who sent me this book said that after I've done the reading, I would be sad and angry, as he did. He's right, the story is very heavy. Not to mention the horrors happened back in Bosina, it's the "human nature" that Peter Maass has been exploring from the war story that appear to be scaring to me. The dark sides of humans, which make a man gets up in the morning to start killing his neighbor, which make a man to be hypocritical and indifferent to the massacre and torture... I hope you, Peter Maass can get some comforts by knowing that many who read the book were deeply moved with your strength, courage, and honesty. For myself, I think I was changed from this experience. You may not know what a great job you've done, but you deserve tons of compliments. I like to say thank-you, and I like to share this book with as many people as I can. - Candi -
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Summary: response to Boston reader, Oct.3, 1999
Review: The reason Amazon does not list this book under Maas is because it was written by Maass, a different author with a similar last name.
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Summary: An astounding read...
Review: This astonishing book tells the story of a journalist who was sent to Bosnia to cover the Serb invasion of that country in the early 1990's. The story the author has to tell is amazing, sad, and troublesome. It is absolutely incredible that this could happen in 'civilized' Europe in the 1990's, and no one intervened to stop it. The author tells the stories that you did not read in the newspapers, and gives the perspective of someone who suffered with the Bosnians. A highly engrossing, highly recommended read!
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Summary: great book
Review: This book really brings to light the whole situation, and tells of many events which our own government tried to hide. We must learn from history to not let it repeat itself. This book is factual, not for the rosey, but VERY important to all!
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Summary: Gripping, shocking, and simply terrifying!
Review: This book showed how terrible the War in Bosnia really was. The media failed to show us the bloodbath that it became. I am sorry that we as a nation did not do more to help the Muslims in Bosnia. Whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Atheist we have a moral responsibility to help defend a small country from genocide. The shocking truth in this book opened my eyes but it also deeply depressed me. One is tempted to give up hope in the face of such monstrous reality. We live in a very unpredictable, hostile, and politically unstable world and Peter Maass shows just how evil it can get.
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Summary: A little editing would do wonders
Review: This is a fascinating book. Unfortunately the author has a habit of referencing other books (most notably Black Lamb Grey Falcon and Catch-22) far too often, usually just when you've lost youself in the book. His insight and explanations of what he experienced are great but they often stray back and forth in time. This sometimes gets a little hard to follow. All of these could be cured with just a little editing. Other than that the only problem I had with the book is that I wanted to know more of his experiences.
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Summary: Hypnotic
Review: This is a fascinating book. It is an excellent source if you are writing any particular paper in reference to Bosnia's recent war. From the beginning, as one reads the intriguing chapter titles, to the end, where one reads a somber but hopeful last chapter, this book is great. It is very detailed and informative.
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Summary: Superb Book on Bosnia and humanity
Review: This is a superb book. Maass provides an extemely readable and informative history of the conflict in Bosnia. But what makes this book so fascinating is that Maass also sheds light on the nature of humanity in general, and the hypocrisy of the United nations and the United States in particular. His thesis is that any society can be torn apartgiven the right circumstances and the wrong leaders.Read this book.
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Summary: Human Memory is a dangerous thing...
Review: This is not the difinitive history of the Bosnian war. It's one journalist's account of his experience covering the war, published soon after the Dayton peace accords, making it one of the first books out on the subject. The story Maass tells is accurate, informative, emotional, and gripping. He's not a historian and doesn't portray himself as such. He tells the story of his struggles to get interviews, and portrays the people of Sarajevo and Bosnia, the politicians, and military & paramilitary leaders, the mistakes of the United Nations and the international community, etc. as he witnessed them. There's probably hundreds of books now on the Balkans. This one will sere your heart.
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Summary: Important Reading
Review: This remains one of the best books about the conflict in Bosnia, at least from a Western point of view. It is written with humor and tenderness and honesty, and fear, and remains profoundly human when there is so much tendency to reduce the conflict to political theories or statistics or wrangling over which ethnic group is most responsible. Maass' book preserves the human dimension, even when he interviews Slobodan Milosevic. It reads like a damn good novel... one only wishes it were a novel
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