Cry Bosnia - Softcover

Harris, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0862415640 ISBN 13: 9780862415648

Publisher: Canongate Books, 1995

Synopsis

Most of the photographs are of people: of refugees, prisoners of war and the relatives of the missing. But this is not so much a book about victims as about survivors. His genre is of the compelling portrait, the captured glance, the giveaway gesture. It is a book about resilience, about the capacity to survive in the most adverse of circumstances. Also seen are musicians, soldiers, artists, shopkeepers - even a grandmother driving a tank - nuns with video camera and a cellist in the ruins of Sarajevo. Paul Harris is the author/photographer of "Somebody Else's War".

About this title

Review:

OUTSTANDING...CRY BOSNIA RANKS WITH THE BEST WORK OF THE AMERICAN MAGNUM AGENCY, MADE UP OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST PHOTO-JOURNALISTS" (CATHOLIC HERALD, UK)

WHILE MANY BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ON THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL NATURE OF THE CONFLICT, AT LAST IN CRY BOSNIA BY PAUL HARRIS, WE ARE SHOWN THE HUMAN FACE OF WAR: THE GLAZED GLINT OF TRIUMPH IN THE EYES OF CROATIAN SOLDIERS FRESH FROM KILLING A SERB, REFUGEES FLEEING THEIR HOMES, WIVES TRYING TO FIND MISSING HUSBANDS AND CHILDREN MADE HOMELESS. ALL THESE PHOTOGRAPHS TELL THEIR OWN PARTICULAR STORIES AND TRUTHS IN A PARTICULAR MOVING WAY...

ALONGSIDE THESE IMAGES ARE ACCOUNTS OF HARRIS'S PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, GATHERED FROM OVER 50 TRIPS. THESE MOVE FROM THE HEART-RENDERING STORY OF NAMKA, WHO ALONG WITH HER FOUR CHILDREN WAS MADE TO WATCH WHILE CHETNIKS SLIT THE THROAT OF HER HUSBAND AND OTHER MALE MEMBERS OF HERE FAMILY, TO HARRIS'S SOMEWHAT BIZZARE MEETING WITH THE NOTORIOUS MEETING WITH THE WAR CRIMINAL KNOWN AS ARKAN. IN BETWEEN ARE SNAPSHOTS OF A SURREAL NORMALITY AMID THE SURROUNDING DESTRUCTION. PEOPLE BROWSE IN A BOOKSHOP JUST YARDS AWAY FROM THE 1992 BREAD QUEUE MASSACRE IN SARAJEVO, WHILE THE WOMEN OF THE CITY DRESS UP IN FUR COATS TO DO THEIR SHOPPING.

CRY BOSNIA IS AN ACCESSIBLE AND INFORMATIVE BOOK WHICH LAYS TO REST MANY MYTHS ABOUT THE BALKANS AND IS A POWERFUL TESTIMONY TO THE DOGGED SURVIVAL OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT THROUGH THE HORRORS OF MEDIEVAL SEIGE, ETHNIC CLEANSING AND GENOCIDE. -- SUSAN NICKALLS, SCOTSMAN. 4.11.96

From the Back Cover:

CRY BOSNIA IS A REMARKABLE BOOK BY A REMARKABLE MAN. IN MORE THAN 50 ASSIGNMENTS AS A WRITER AND PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE WAR TORM FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, PAUL HARRIS HAS DISREGARDED HIS OWN SAFETY AND, IN HIS BATTERED SKODA CAR, HAS TRAVELLED TO PLACES MANY WAR CORRESPONDENTS HAVE NEVER VISITED, FOR MORE THAN FOUR YEARS, STARTING WITH THE YUGOSLAV AIR FORCE ATTACK ON SLOVENIA'S LJUBLJANA AIRPORT, HE HAS CONSISTENTLY BEEN AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF EVENTS. HE HAS WITNESSED ETHNIC CLEANSING AND THE AFTERMATH OF MASSACRE AND RAPE AND YET HIS HUMANITY AND SANITY REMAIN INTACT.

CRY BOSNIA IS A BOOK ABOUT PEOPLE, THEIR RESILIENCE AND THEIR CAPACITY TO SURVIVE IN THE MOST ADVERSE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. SO MANY STORIES, POIGNANT BEYOND ANY NORMAL MEASURE, ARE TOLD BOTH IN WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, BUILDING UP A PICTURE WHICH FEW OF US HAVE TRULY GRASPED, OF THIS APPALLING AND WASTEFUL WAR.

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0862415640
• ISBN 13: 9780862415648
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144