Genocide in Bosnia: The Policy of "Ethnic Cleansing", Vol. 1 FROM THE PUBLISHER
The genocide that has been occurring in Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1992 demands national attention. Incidents of these atrocities have involved European, American, and Islamic interests; they have taken place in the heart of Europe which had promised never to tolerate such a bloodbath again; they have paralyzed mechanisms set up to prevent such genocide, from the UN Charter to the NATO mandate; and they have been monitored, observed, and documented in progress.
In this compelling and thorough study, Norman Cigar sets out to prove that genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina is not simply the unintentional result of civil war nor the unfortunate by-product of rabid nationalism. Genocide is, he contends, the planned and direct consequence of conscious policy decisions taken by the Serbian establishment in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Genocide in Bosnia provides a detailed account of the historical events, actions, and practices that led to and legitimated genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It focuses attention not only on the horror of "ethnic cleansing" and the calculated strategy that allowed it to happen but also offers some interesting solutions to the problem.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Cigar, a professor of national security studies at Quantico, claims that the crime of genocide in Bosnia has been committed as a "rational policy" in pursuit of a greater Serbia "by the Serbian establishment in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina." The author's command of most published sources enables him to depict systematic "ethnic cleansing" throughout the region; the persistent "denial" of the policy by the international community, among others; and the ineffectual consequences of Western involvement. There is little doubt that genocide has taken place in Bosnia, although the question of its origins and those responsible is not so obvious. Too, a work concerning so heinous and infrequent a crime should offer comparison with episodes elsewhere, as well as more attention to the United Nations-sponsored war crimes tribunal for Bosnia. Although lacking Cigar's detail, David Rieff's Slaughterhouse (LJ 2/15/95) discusses much of the same events with greater balance. Libraries with strong Balkan collections should acquire both.-Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie
Booknews
Cigar, professor at the US Marine Corps School of Advanced Warfighting in Quantico, VA and former Pentagon analyst, argues that genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina is the direct consequence of policy decisions by Serbian leadership to establish an ethnically homogeneous "Greater Serbia," and critiques the international community's reluctance to act decisively. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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