Blood And Honey

Rating:
Summary: Great photos. Poor text.
Review: I have always enjoyed Haviv's beautiful photographs. He has an incredible eye. But the text in this book is very poor. Sudetic comes across as a Yugo-nostalgic fool. Once again the writer uses myths from World War Two as justification for the present day conflict. If we are going to bring up WW2 then lets also bring up Serb duplicity and collaboration with the Nazis. (See the Nedic regime). As well as the whole slaughter of non-Serbs, primarily Muslims and Croats by the Chetnik forces of Serb General Mihajlovic, prior to 1941. The writer does not take into account Communist Tito's massacres at Bleiburg, and the death camps such as Goli Otok and Gradiska. (For comparisons see Pinochet). Yugoslavia was not a utopian dream. It was a vicious state ruled with an iron fist and it was bound to fall apart. It was a regime ruled by one ethnic group, the Serbs, and several non-Serb cronies who were die-hard Communists. War was tragically inevitable. How could it not be, when the Serb leader Milosevic and other Serb intellectuals, wanted to carve out a Greater Serbia. (See Memorandum from the Serb Academy of Arts and Sciences). And almost succeeded. What was unforseen was the West's desperate attempt to keep Yugoslavia whole. This goes back to interest and types like former Sec. of State Lawrence Eagleburger having money/investments in the region.
What gives larger nations the right to 'allow' smaller nations autonomy? Thank God these countries are now independent. We can only hope the illegally annexed provinces of Vojvodina and Kosova can finally break free from Serb repression in the coming years.
Haviv, next time get a better writer who knows more than the usual regurgitated Communist rhetoric. I mean would you write a book on the Ukraine with a Soviet?

Rating:
Summary: Great photos. Poor text.
Review: It's hard top describe or explain, but the very impact of the horrific photos and the tender essays which accompany them add substantially to the overall beauty of the work. This is definitely something to leave on the coffee table, with the expectation of rousing some stirring (possibly controversial) conversation.

Haviv's displaying a tremendous ability to see through the "fog of war" that has routinely plagued journalists (photojournalists and written word journalists) since the American Civil War. His eye for the poignant photo speaks, as a picture is supposed to, thousands of words; his words paint the pictures far more deeper than what the superficial eye can see.

This is as important a document of the Balkan War, or of war in general, as has ever been put to print. The price of the book should not be considered too daunting - the price of war, however, should be.

Rating:
Summary: Coffee Table Book with a Twist
Review: It's hard top describe or explain, but the very impact of the horrific photos and the tender essays which accompany them add substantially to the overall beauty of the work. This is definitely something to leave on the coffee table, with the expectation of rousing some stirring (possibly controversial) conversation.

Haviv's displaying a tremendous ability to see through the "fog of war" that has routinely plagued journalists (photojournalists and written word journalists) since the American Civil War. His eye for the poignant photo speaks, as a picture is supposed to, thousands of words; his words paint the pictures far more deeper than what the superficial eye can see.

This is as important a document of the Balkan War, or of war in general, as has ever been put to print. The price of the book should not be considered too daunting - the price of war, however, should be.

Rating:
Summary: Into the World of War
Review: The compelling pictures of Ron Haviv's book are a historical document of a war whose atrocities have been compared to those of World War II. Haviv takes us through a wild and vivid journey in the pages of his Balkan War Journal, revealing the kind of passion and emotion in his images that make it impossible not to see the photographer within the photograph. The essays which accompany the pictures work as an introspective supplement for making the Balkan war more poignant to the reader. These essays, along with the text chronology of the war, are key in differentiating this collection of photographs from an ordinary photobook and helping the reader understand the order of events. As such, this book serves as not merely a journal, but more importantly a historical record.

Blood and Honey is the window through which we can witness the tragic reality of the inhabitants of the former Yugoslavia. Moreover, it is a reminder to all of us that there are those that choose to go to war and there are those that have no choice. Reading Blood and Honey it is clear that Haviv is one of the brave souls that never had a choice. Definitely get this book.

Rating:
Summary: A photographer's search for the limelight
Review: What can be said of a person who hangs around a gang of killers for years? Ron Haviv has done just this. Fear and death become trivialized when expensive and stylized books become available for the commercial market.
There are photographs that exist from the past that document murder. These photographs were made by the murderers themselves in order to celebrate their deeds or by the victims in an attempt to warn the world of the horrors that had taken place.
Haviv was neither a victim nor a spy taking photographs on the sly from the distance. Haviv was in the middle of this carnage. He was the court photographer for a twisted band of murderers, winning their confidence over a period of years. He did not attempt to stop the crimes, he photographed them instead. He did not run from this vicious mob but instead he chose to remain with them.
In the book he is referred to as having been brave. I choose to think of him as an opportunist of the highest degree. Shame!!