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Rating: 
Summary: Riveting story, very accessible
Review: "Be Not Afraid" is very hard to put down. It brings to life an important story from a region whose names and rival groups are nearly impossible to keep track of by following the daily news. The Onion's headline summed it up best for many people: "CLINTON DEPLOYS VOWELS TO BOSNIA: Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients".
The book offers a sense of personal understanding of the way that groups like the Kossovo Liberation Army are started and the way that populations, governments and the media are manipulated by the actors involved in a conflict. While from the outside, the actions of these warring tribes appear like inexplicable madness, when reading their story you can almost place yourself in their position. For many readers, Florin Krasniqi's life in Brooklyn will make the story particularly compelling.
My only criticism is that the author does not take seriously some of the stronger arguments against the 1999 US-led NATO bombing of Kosovo and Belgrade. Instead, taking the approach favored by the major media networks like her employer (Newsweek/MSNBC), we hear a lot from US Government and military sources and virtually nothing from their most compelling critics.
Rating: 
Summary: brilliant and absorbing
Review: Every few years I read a book that makes me wonder most of all -- How come the literary/bookseller world isn't paying more attention to this one? I fell upon this one by accident and it is a gorgeous piece of reportage from a place we isolated Americans know nothing about. Also, it is an amazing, classic kind of American story, too -- beautifully rendered by a skilled reporter and told engagingly -- at times with great humour and always, admirable skill. Don't judge a book by its cover or either, the lack of buzz. This one's a winner.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating and flat-out disturbing
Review: This book quietly appeared in the midst of election time, an escalating guerilla war in Iraq, and questions about the Bush administration's actions post-9-11 and going forward. A quick read of the jacket is enticing enough, but the whole work becomes fascinating, and then just outright disturbing. Consider, if you will, the story here, which is true. I'm very surprised this book hasn't received more comment. This is the story of a man, living in America, who organizes a terrorist group for export to his home country (Kosovo). In detail, we read about a Brooklyn roofer and Kosovo ex-pat, who, upon hearing of the strife in his country (not really a country) helps organize the KLA. The KLA was branded a terrorist organization by America and most of Europe. Their aim, it was no secret, was to launch attacks on Serb police and civilians in hopes of triggering disproportionate responses (re: atrocities) in order to lure the West in to help. The Kosovo War is now, of course, another cottage publishing industry (like every war.) However, the war is mysteriously absent from public debate and is yet another chapter of American foreign policy that is doomed to the memory hole. More than two years before the re-declaration of the war on terror(ism), the Kosovo war was another illegal war (by largely ignored international standards) that accomplished little but remind Europe that the US is still the dominant military power in NATO (and the world.) Indeed, the bombing campaign escalated the level of violence in the region as Milosevic's 'horseshoe' strategy was put into effect, driving millions from their homes and triggering atrocities on both the Serb and KLA sides. In 2004, tensions flared again as Albanians burned Serb homes, driving yet more people out of region to ensure it becomes completely Albanian, thus making the claim of independce more viable. The war emboldened the Albanians, who disbanded the KLA only to form another rebel group dedicated to driving Serbs out of portions of Serbia proper and make new geographic claims. Macedonia has seen flare-ups of similar tensions. Imagine, if you will, a book about a successful Iraqi ex-pat who helps organize terror squads from Brooklyn for export to Baghdad, to kill Americans and pro-American Iraqis. Or an Irishman who organizes IRA cells from Boston...oops, nevermind. These selective doctrines of intervention (you know, suddenly deciding to care about Kosovo) fall apart under scrutiny. In 1999, 'Serbs' were, of course, synonymous with Nazis, the most evil people in Europe, so it was okay to bomb their cities to smithereens because Milosevic was just an awful guy. Oh, and these were people who sided with the Allies twice, but nevermind. It was okay to fund and train terrorist groups who would wind up controlling the region through gangsterism. Sound familiar? The US should never have entered the Kosovo conflict. The war accomplished little for the Serbs, Albanians, or Europe. More and more, it looks like an exercise in American muscle-flexing. And the cited humanitarian reasons for the war are borderline absurd. As in, how is it humanitarian to blow apart a country, drive the people into further poverty, and help escalate violence, all the while stating you won't even send in ground troops? It's nice to know a fanatical ex-pat (who happens to be Muslim, proof that the war in terror is not about religion, but power) can help lure the lone superpower into a dusty and desolate pocket of Europe to bomb the daylights out of an impoverished country. This man's story is indeed fascinating, even admirable. Are we supposed to cheer this guy on? This is far more disturbing than any accounts I've read of the actual war.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and flat-out disturbing
Review: This book quietly appeared in the midst of election time, an escalating guerilla war in Iraq, and questions about the Bush administration's actions post-9-11 and going forward. A quick read of the jacket is enticing enough, but the whole work becomes fascinating, and then just outright disturbing. Consider, if you will, the story here, which is true. I'm very surprised this book hasn't received more comment. This is the story of a man, living in America, who organizes a terrorist group for export to his home country (Kosovo). In detail, we read about a Brooklyn roofer and Kosovo ex-pat, who, upon hearing of the strife in his country (not really a country) helps organize the KLA. The KLA was branded a terrorist organization by America and most of Europe. Their aim, it was no secret, was to launch attacks on Serb police and civilians in hopes of triggering disproportionate responses (re: atrocities) in order to lure the West in to help. The Kosovo War is now, of course, another cottage publishing industry (like every war.) However, the war is mysteriously absent from public debate and is yet another chapter of American foreign policy that is doomed to the memory hole. More than two years before the re-declaration of the war on terror(ism), the Kosovo war was another illegal war (by largely ignored international standards) that accomplished little but remind Europe that the US is still the dominant military power in NATO (and the world.) Indeed, the bombing campaign escalated the level of violence in the region as Milosevic's 'horseshoe' strategy was put into effect, driving millions from their homes and triggering atrocities on both the Serb and KLA sides. In 2004, tensions flared again as Albanians burned Serb homes, driving yet more people out of region to ensure it becomes completely Albanian, thus making the claim of independce more viable. The war emboldened the Albanians, who disbanded the KLA only to form another rebel group dedicated to driving Serbs out of portions of Serbia proper and make new geographic claims. Macedonia has seen flare-ups of similar tensions. Imagine, if you will, a book about a successful Iraqi ex-pat who helps organize terror squads from Brooklyn for export to Baghdad, to kill Americans and pro-American Iraqis. Or an Irishman who organizes IRA cells from Boston...oops, nevermind. These selective doctrines of intervention (you know, suddenly deciding to care about Kosovo) fall apart under scrutiny. In 1999, 'Serbs' were, of course, synonymous with Nazis, the most evil people in Europe, so it was okay to bomb their cities to smithereens because Milosevic was just an awful guy. Oh, and these were people who sided with the Allies twice, but nevermind. It was okay to fund and train terrorist groups who would wind up controlling the region through gangsterism. Sound familiar? The US should never have entered the Kosovo conflict. The war accomplished little for the Serbs, Albanians, or Europe. More and more, it looks like an exercise in American muscle-flexing. And the cited humanitarian reasons for the war are borderline absurd. As in, how is it humanitarian to blow apart a country, drive the people into further poverty, and help escalate violence, all the while stating you won't even send in ground troops? It's nice to know a fanatical ex-pat (who happens to be Muslim, proof that the war in terror is not about religion, but power) can help lure the lone superpower into a dusty and desolate pocket of Europe to bomb the daylights out of an impoverished country. This man's story is indeed fascinating, even admirable. Are we supposed to cheer this guy on? This is far more disturbing than any accounts I've read of the actual war.
Rating: 
Summary: One Sided Story
Review: This book was so one sided and the author didn't even try to hide that fact. There was nothing about the the countrys history to say why the Serbs would think/know that that country was theres. Its would not be a good book for someone to read if they didn't know anything about Serbs.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting reading.
Review: Very insightful and thoroughly researched book. I recommend it to anyone with any interest in the Balkans and in Albanians, in particular.
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