This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Replacing tyranny with justice, healing deep scars, exchanging hatred for
hope . . . the women in This Was Not Our War teach us how."
-William
Jefferson Clinton
This Was Not Our War shares amazing first-person accounts of twenty-six Bosnian women who are reconstructing their society following years of devastating warfare. A university student working to resettle refugees, a paramedic who founded a veterans' aid group, a fashion designer running two nonprofit organizations, a government minister and professor who survived Auschwitz-these women are advocates, politicians, farmers, journalists, students, doctors, businesswomen, engineers, wives, and mothers. They are from all parts of Bosnia and represent the full range of ethnic traditions and mixed heritages. Their ages spread across sixty years, and their wealth ranges from expensive jewels to a few chickens. For all their differences, they have this much in common: all survived the war with enough emotional strength to work toward rebuilding their country. Swanee Hunt met these women through her diplomatic and humanitarian work in the 1990s. Over the course of seven years, she conducted multiple interviews with each one. In presenting those interviews here, Hunt provides a narrative framework that connects the women's stories, allowing them to speak to one another.
The women describe what it was like living in a vibrant multicultural community that suddenly imploded in an onslaught of violence. They relate the chaos; the atrocities, including the rapes of many neighbors and friends; the hurried decisions whether to stay or flee; the extraordinary efforts to care for children and elderly parents and to find food and clean drinking water. Reflecting on the causes of the war, they vehemently reject the idea that age-old ethnic hatreds made the war inevitable. The women share their reactions to the Dayton Accords, the end of hostilities, and international relief efforts. While they are candid about the difficulties they face, they are committed to rebuilding Bosnia based on ideals of truth, justice, and a common humanity encompassing those of all faiths and ethnicities. Their wisdom is instructive, their courage and fortitude inspirational.
FROM THE CRITICS
Ellen Michaud - Friends Journal
"Keenly reported, intelligently reasoned, and passionately presented, This
Was Not Our War is a must read for policy makers, historians, cultural
anthropologists, and peacebuilders."
Rob Mitchell - Boston Herald
"[A] compelling case for the inclusion of women at the world's decision-making tables. . . . [A] fluid narrative that provides an intimate, less blustery perspective on the Bosnian conflict. . . . If the 26 women [Hunt] profiles are any indication, the women of Bosnia have the requisite ideas, energy and determination and are particularly well-suited to the sensitive work of leading their country toward recovery."
Verna Noel Jones - Rocky Mountain News
"[Hunt] succeeds in offering a historically detailed account of the war and
the women's experiences. Her narrative is heart-rending and filled with
revealing pictures of the women's strength, courage and leadership."
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Robert Coles
"Here is history watched in its unfolding, then put on record. Women tell
an astute listener what they saw, read, and remember even as their careful
witness-at once an eloquent and tragic story-is enabled by the knowing
attention of a seasoned diplomat and psychologist. This effort advances the
kind of history Tolstoy urged be written-a narration of on-the-scene
individuals rendered by one herself very much willing to be respectfully
among them." — James Agee Professor of Social Ethics and
Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities, Harvard University
Samantha Power
"Swanee Hunt is a diplomat, human rights advocate, and teacher. With This
Was Not Our War she shows she is also a gifted listener and writer. In
these pages, Hunt captures the rationales and rationalizations for war as
well as the despair and stirring dignity of twenty-six women who lived
through the Bosnian horrors. Hunt lets the women speak for themselves,
telling the story of Bosnia's descent and recovery their way, and, in so
doing, she shows just how vital their voices, insights, and talents will be
in rebuilding Bosnia and its shattered lives." — author of
the Pulitzer Prize-winning "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of
Genocide
Queen Noor of Jordan
"I met Swanee Hunt as a diplomat in Vienna. I worked beside her as an
activist in the Balkans. Now I know her as a writer, addressing a world
sorely in need of her message of challenge and hope. Her words resonate
with the authenticity of an observer and advocate who has devoted not only
attention, time, and position, but also soul." — humanitarian activist for world peace and justice and best-selling author
of Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life
ACCREDITATION
Swanee Hunt is the Founder and Chair of Women Waging Peace, a global policy-oriented initiative working to integrate women into peace processes. During her tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Austria (1993-97), she hosted negotiations and several international symposia to focus efforts on securing the peace in the neighboring Balkan states. Swanee Hunt is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University, and President of the Hunt Alternatives Fund. She has written hundreds of articles for American and international newspapers and professional journals, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the International Herald Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, and the Denver Post. She is a syndicated columnist for the Scripps Howard news service.
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