ePub Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 by Joe Sacco in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Profound; educational; beautiful ...By Caitlin MartinAs a comic book nerd I've long enjoyed Joe Sacco's amazing work. Superb journalism presented in comic book format; he is an artist who reminds us of all of the promise in the format.I bought Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 at my local comic book store because I am in a period of learning more about the Bosnian War and it was by Joe Sacco and I could afford it at the time. I read it following my read of Logavina Street by Barbara Demick and it was a great companion piece. Where Demick's book is all about Sarajevo; Sacco's is about conditions in Safe Area Gorazde; a small place that was under unrelenting siege from 1992 to 1995. Sacco gives a great deal of background information about the conflict while at the same time humanizing it through format and the eyes of the people who lived through the siege (including his own). Each in their own put themselves in the center of the stories they're telling - an acknowledgment of the myth of objectivity.I've read a lot of history and a lot of historical fiction and when the words "siege warfare" come up I tend to think about castles and knights and big walls and the people inside eating their horses. Safe Area Gorazde taught me a lot about modern siege warfare and opened my eyes further to a story I have neglected. It is simple to understand why Mr. Sacco won the Eisner Award for this book. Brilliant; heart-stopping; and terribly sad this is a work of genius - highly recommended.11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. WowBy Richard RAmazing. This may be the most powerful testament yet writtenabout the war in Bosnia. Gorazde was a "safe area" in easternBosnia; much like the ill-fated Srebrenica nearby. It was nearly -butnot quite- overrun by Serb forces; and Sacco's four visits to the townyielded up this amazing comic-style account of the war from thenarrow; pained perspective of a town under siege. The story fits withthe format so well because it's not a chronology (like Honig's`Srebrenica'); nor a political review of the disintegration ofYugoslavia; nor a journalist's travelogue. It's just a day-to-dayaccount -conversations with soldiers; teachers; teenage girls;refugees; with their friends and families- all the folks who madeup wartime Gorazde. They witnessed unspeakable brutalities; attackson civilians; burning of houses; murders; rapes; gratuitous violenceby wicked men. Cut off from the world they are bored; hungry for newsand diversion. Sacco details these scenes and their terrible effectson the otherwise normal people of a nondescript Balkan town. Theunforgettable man who made hours of home video of carnage and bodyparts; achieving almost sexual pleasure from watching it and screeningit for visitors; the girls in search of bluejeans and boyfriends; thesoldiers who just want to go back to the university. Sacco placesGorazde in its historical context by reviewing the broader war; eventsin Sarajevo and Srebrenica and Dayton. He points fingers; this is notan even-handed piece of jurisprudence; but a visit to one of the ringsof hell; whose inhabitants know precisely who is guilty for visitingthis carnage on innocents. They know; because they were all neighborsjust months before.Sacco's illustrations pack a punch. Readerswill by turns grow tense as a group walks all night in the snow forsupplies; as a handful of men hold off a Serb column supported bytanks. Or sad as young people describe their terrors in terms thatshow unmistakable signs of trauma and mental illness. Or smile asSacco's new friends show courage and humanity despite their suffering.These are enduring images. The book can be read in a few hours; andreaders will not be able to put it down.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A stern warningBy Fred MinerIn addition to being informative and entertaining (in a dark way); Gorazde is a frightening look at what happens when a society breaks down and reverts to tribalism. Throughout this book I was struck by the fact that mean; ruthless people walk amoung us and need only to have the restraints of civilized society ripped away in order to live out their savagery. Sacco's book should be a warning to all who think that we have developed beyond such things. Yugoslavia had been an apparently stable and prosperous East Block country until the fall of communism but once the ethnic strife re-emerged; it fell for a time into a post apocaliptic state. The ink drawings gave a chilling look at the suffering and hopelessness that many of the Bosnians experienced (or died in). It is a story that we should all be aware of and we should heed its warning lest we too be polarized into such a collapse.