Amazon.co.uk Review
The Lonely Planet Journeys are a series noted for their vivid creation of atmosphere and locale--but most notably for their often tough, unsettling evocations of the world's most troubled countries. Zoë Brân's
After Yugoslavia may be concise, but the reader is taken on a remarkable epic journey in which one of the most turbulent periods in human history is powerfully conjured. The author visited Yugoslavia in the 70s as a tourist looking for a good time. And when she returns 21 years later, she finds a massively changed land. Sarajevo, Mostar and Dubrovnik (names carved into the consciousness of all of us who watched the deeply affecting news broadcasts of the early 90s) are the cities Brân finds herself in once again, struggling to make sense of the catastrophe that has befallen them. But as well as the destruction wrought by conflict, she finds a people filled with resilience and spirit--and her tale is as much one of the indomitable qualities in human nature as it is a study of war. From progressive Slovenia through war-torn Croatia (whose stunning beauty is in stark contrast to its image as an icon of human division) and into the country most deeply affected by the conflicts, Bosnia-Hercegovina, we are taken on an eye-opening journey that evokes both the nobility and horror involved in the war. And again and again, a word appears that is crucial to the genesis of the divisions: tradition--and the author becomes convinced that this is as crucial a factor in the hatred as religion is in Northern Ireland. But Brân is interested in far more than the dead hand of a tradition (often barely remembered) that has cost so many lives, and her book, while often unsettling, remains as much an affirmation of the human spirit as it is an astringent and compelling evocation of a divided land. --
Barry Forshaw
Synopsis
Dubrovnik, Mostar, Sarajevo: these are names now etched into the world's psyche. In this book, the author retraces her steps through these cities, finding that although the war may be over, the recriminations and hatreds are not. Yet the people she meets on her travels are looking to the future.
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