Maybe this isn't the most unbiased review, as I was fortunate enough to read the chapters, as they were sent out, to family/friends. At times, I was concerned about Mike's sanity, as many experiences are downright depressing. There was comfort that his wife/best friend, was there all along. For those not fortunate enough to meet the author, & personally experience his wit, candor, & insight, I invite you to meet him on the pages of his book, so you can witness the "Hell" that he experienced, w/out you getting burned. It helps to remember, that Mike is a West Point grad, when he critiques those in uniform. He's been there, done that. This is a highly cerebral selection, which challenges the reader to stretch beyond the limits. If you are practical, & not theoretical, based, don't go there. But if you want to journey, where most of us will never personally go, both geographically & mind altering, then read & submit your own reviews.

Luisa Lang Owen's recounting of her childhood and the losses she and others experienced before, during and after the war, including three years in a concentration camp is, at once, both hauntingly beautiful and horrific. Her captors, in seeking to exterminate individuals and their culture ironically distilled, in this young woman, the essence of being. Her lush and loving attention to detail, her artistic perceptions were heightened and strengthened in those years, and what we sometimes refer to as the "strength of the human spirit" is clearly defined in the telling of this woman's coming of age under life-threatening conditions. Both fascinated and saddened by the telling, I felt as if I'd entered the spirit of someone who has always lived and continues to live fully and attentively in the world.

As a Bosnian refugee from a mixed marriage I felt very deeply the pain and the experiences told in this book. It is one of the very few that let you know how many former Yugoslavs feel and think about the loss of their country.

Clark's book is an excellent and thoroughly researched history of the little know civil resistance movement in Kosovo that sprang up in the early 1990s until war broke out in 1998. Clark's research is impeccable (much of it first hand) and this piece is a must read for anyone trying to get a more thorough understanding of this conflict.

Irvine's basic thesis in this book is that the issue of Croatian statehood and Croatia's position in the former Yugoslavia (in both its pre-WW2 royalist and post-WW2 socialist incarnations) were crucial factors in that country's political development. During the 1918-1941 period, Serb-Croat relations were often the main preoccupation of most national-level politicians, and even the (then) marginal Yugoslav Communist Party spent an inordinate amount of time deliberating on the 'national question,' primarily as it related to tensions between the Serbs and Croats. Irvine focuses on the World War II period, and particularly the problems faced by the Communist Partisans in organizing resistance and administering liberated territories in Croatia. As such, this is one of the few books in any language that contains some balanced, in-depth discussion of Croat Communist leader Andrija Hebrang and the territorial antifascist liberation council in Croatia (known by its Croatian acronym ZAVNOH). Irvine correctly points out that ZAVNOH's legacy as a provisional government in Croatia during the war would be important for later political events in Yugoslavia, particularly as the country became increasingly federalized (indeed, even the preamble to the current Croatian constitution refers to ZAVNOH as an important precedent in Croatian state-building). Generally this is a very important, and readable, contribution to the study of the national question in Croatia and Yugoslavia.

As a Croatian Folklorist and teacher, I have found this book to be a most valuble piece in my collection of Croatian and Balkan folk materials. Anyone interested in folk arts should read it and anyone in the field of Balkan folk arts should memorize it.

The Mahmutcehajic's work is a perfect literature for anyone who ever wanted to know why Bosnian war happened, why Genocide, Concentration camps and enormous human suffering and misery occurred at the end of the twentieth century and what was this conflict all about. I am sure this essay will satisfy anyone who wants to discover more about Bosnian tragedy either professionally or out of curiosity. For historians an politicians Mahmutcehajic's work represents an excellent and detailed expertise, for history, politics or international affairs Students it is the richest resource available about War in Bosnia and for just a curious reader it is the best yet informer about one of the greatest human tragedies in this century.

Wow... Suleman Ahmer's new book is incredibly fabulous! I liked it because it is a good idea to help other people around the world who are in desparate need of help. The Embattled Innocence is filled with moments of breath-taking emotions: joy, happiness, angriness, but mostly sorrow that makes one's eyes well up with tears. This book is incredibly good, and should be read by everyone around the world! I give 5 stars to this book emplying 'This book should be a bestseller!'

Shows an eyewitness account to the turbulent ethnic cauldron of Yugoslavia after the Axis invades and sets up new spheres of influence, most notably the Ustashi(nazi) Croats getting control over what is now known as Bosnia,;the Italian Fascists and their Albanian partners were given more or less what is presently the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Kosovo province, and what is now the western part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The book is a good primer for understanding the roots of today's headlines.

This is a very well researched book that relies on complex theoretical framework to explain the breakup of Yugoslavia. Lucarelli's argument is persuasive. The only weakness of her work is over-reliance on the theory since a historical narrative could have provided equally valid explanation. However, this is a valuable scholarly work.